Center Conversation: Open Wheel Madness

This episode is part of our HISTORY OF MOTORSPORTS SERIES and is sponsored in part by: The International Motor Racing Research Center (IMRRC), The Society of Automotive Historians (SAH), The Watkins Glen Area Chamber of Commerce, and the Argetsinger Family – and was recorded in front of a live studio audience.

[00:00:00] BreakFix’s History of Motorsports series is brought to you in part by the International Motor Racing Research Center, as well as the Society of Automotive Historians, the Watkins Glen Area Chamber of Commerce, and the Argettsinger family. Well, my name is Kip Sider. For those who may not know, I’m the Visitor Services Outreach Coordinator for the International Motor Racing Research Center.

And I want to welcome you all here. Thank you for taking a little time out of your afternoon to come visit us as we talk about open wheel madness. Before we get going, I have several people I need to thank on this. First of all, and foremost of all, are our two speakers, Mr. Herb Anistore and Stephen Bubb.

When we were considering putting this program together, I emailed Lenny Sammons from Area Auto Racing News and asked him what we were projecting to do and who might I get that would be experts in their field. And Mr. Sammons immediately suggested Herb and Steve. We are very happy and very honored to have them here today.

I am personally fascinated at both of the things they’re going to talk about. Herb is talking [00:01:00] about board track racing, which I have been fascinated about for a number of years. And Steven’s going to talk about sprint car and open wheel racing in the twenties and thirties and some guy named Al Capone and what he had to do with racing.

And that was the hook that got me psyched on his talk as well. So I certainly want to thank both Herb and Steven for coming here. Herb, I’m going to invite you up now, so settle back and relax, and Herb, come on up. Kip, thank you, uh, gee, a nice crowd, and it’s an honor to be here because I know the people who’ve been before me and the people who are involved in this organization, and it’s something I never really would have ever expected, so thank you all for coming.

I hope we have some fun this afternoon. This is something that I’m interested in. Kip has asked me to talk a little bit about myself. We live in Vineland, New Jersey. I was a school teacher for 25 years, taught health and physical education, and for much of that time while I was doing that, I was also working at the local newspaper in Vineland.

I was a sports writer, and the last two years I was a daily [00:02:00] columnist, which means I went into the office every night and I sat and looked at that screen for two or three hours before I wrote anything, which had to be printed the next day, so that, that was always a lot of fun. As far as automobile racing goes, I got involved as a kid going to the Vineland Speedway, which was in our community.

It started out as a dirt track, then it became asphalt track. My family wasn’t really racing fans. Before I was old enough to drive, my dad would take me to the races because he knew I liked the racing. Then when I got old enough to drive, I was a drag racer, became an official at the track, was a starter with flags.

I’m that old. Our track closed. My racing got involved with more with what you could see on TV, reading National Speed Sport news, articles like that. I got involved with Lenny. I’ve been writing for about 40 years, area auto racing news. I was also a contributing editor for 20 years with stock car racing.

I worked for Jimmy Horton when he was doing his modified racing. He still is. I was 11 years. I worked on [00:03:00] that crew did tires crew set up car involvement and things like that. I’m really interested in the history of automobile racing. It’s just so interesting to find out how we got to where we are. Board track racing is part of that.

Before I go into what I’m going to speak about today, which is really more of an overview, because there’s so much you can talk about in all this, I want to point out this painting. This was done by Joe Henning, and he’s a motorsports illustrator, and the man in the white car is Frank Lockhart, and that’s a rear wheel drive Miller, and the front wheel drive Miller is Peter DiPaolo.

When I asked the people who had this painting if I could use it, they had no question about it. They thought this would be a terrific idea, and that’s why I left the logo, which you can see, is the American Hot Rod Foundation. American Hot Rod Foundation is an organization much like this. They deal with old time auto racing.

And the history of the sport, board tracks a little bit, mostly with hot rodding. It’s not a bad [00:04:00] idea if you’re interested one time and you’re sitting at your computer to just type in American Hot Rod Foundation and see what they have to offer. I think you’re here today because you enjoy this kind of thing.

And that’s a nice activity to get involved. Velodrome is a French term meaning bicycle racetrack. And this is what became very popular in Europe. People racing bicycles on these oval board tracks eventually came over to this country, and there were velodromes throughout. Bicycle racing was very popular at the end of the 1890s and early 1900s.

Many of the early automobile racers were bicycle racers. The Wright brothers were bicycle racers. So if we’re going to race bicycles on a wooden track, well, motorcycles aren’t that much bigger. So let’s try them and they did that too. Those people really did things that were just unimaginable.

Motorcycles and velodromes were raced with the throttle wired full force. So they’re going around full force with no brakes. A lot of [00:05:00] accidents, a lot of people were killed, but this is what they did and people continued to do that. Someone thought, well, if we have bicycles and motorcycles, maybe we could have automobiles on a wooden track.

The first track that was ever built. For automobile racing with a wooden base was the Playa del Rey in Venice, California. It was a one mile track 1910 and it was in Los Angeles and it was designed by Fred Moskowitz and built by Jack Prince. Jack Prince was a bicycle champion, came to this country to build these race tracks for motorcycles and bicycles and Moskowitz and Prince put this track together.

This was a one mile track banked 30 degrees. Moskowitz was really excited about this, but Howard Marmon, who had the Marmon Automobile Company, said, You know, this is okay, but these guys aren’t going to do that good. And Moskowitz said, 5, 000 bet that they would go over 100 miles an hour. Now 5, 000, as we [00:06:00] see, is about 133, 000 today, so this wasn’t a small wager.

And he lost that bet by less than one mile an hour. The car that went the fastest at that time was Barney Oldfield, but this was the first track. There were 24 of them from 1910 through 1931. The second track was built in Oakland. This was where Jack Prince’s headquarters was, and it was in 1911. It was a half mile track.

You can see there were also three other half mile tracks that were built late in the 1920s. These tracks were wonderful board tracks for the racers, but they never had a triple A national championship race. That was always on a track that was a mile or longer. These four other tracks in Oakland, Akron, Bridgeport, and Woodbridge were more like a local weekly track.

They had regular races, sometimes they had special events. Sometimes they were run monthly, depending on the popularity [00:07:00] of the races. They were more of a local flavor, other than the rest of the tracks which we’ll see, which were all National Championship tracks. You see, from 1910, it took until 1915 for the next track to be built.

That was in Chicago, was a two mile track. Tacoma was a two mile track and Omaha, then Des Moines. So you had four tracks within one year that developed into something that became a national championship circuit. All of these tracks were run for a variety of years with a variety of winners. And the history of all these tracks, we could spend hours on.

But we want to talk a little bit more about the overall nature of board track racing. And in doing that, here is what the coverage was in the newspapers of the first board track races. Now, Playa Del Rey, This was a week long activity. It had a wide variety of things that took place. Notice the headlines.

They were running this [00:08:00] mile track in about 37, 38 seconds. But notice the cars that were being raced. These cars were basically the cars that were by the manufacturers, and they were just stripped down. They had wooden wheels. Tires sometimes were solid tires. They weren’t all necessarily rubber tires. But look at the coverage that was given.

To what was taking place. Here’s the Marmon Pier in the top corner. That was driven by Ray Haroon. You can see the other vehicles in there. How heavy they are. Imagine going 90, 95 miles an hour in something like that. And this is what these folks were doing. Notice the Michelin tire ad. Michelin was a great supporter of automobile racing.

In fact, it was one of the leading automobile racing tires at the time. The Fiat ad on the side here. talking about Ralph De Palma and Caleb Bragg. They were two of the drivers that were Fiat racers and what they talked about when the Fiat and the power of the race car, and then the records that were being set [00:09:00] this first week of racing board track in California had a variety of things.

There were races of maybe five laps going on. There were challenge races. They had a wide variety of engine sizes, so that someone would race. We’re going to try and set a record for a 100 cubic inch engine. We’re going to try an engine that’s 300 cubic inches. Things like that. And this went on for that week.

1910, the Playa del Rey. Notice the people standing outside the track. Notice that the track wall is perpendicular to the ground. Not perpendicular to the racetrack. In the early tracks, this caused a lot of problems. Cars would go into that and just go over the top. They wouldn’t necessarily come back in.

But you see how these cars were? There were two man cars. There were one man cars. Notice the gas tanks. Just regular gas tank that was in the automobile before they stripped the body panels away. Here is more coverage. This is Ray Haroon [00:10:00] driving his Marmin. He won a 100 mile race. Hello Los Angeles Herald, this was a front page story.

This was April 10th, it was in early April when the track opened. In June 1910, here was an article by the New York Times comparing the board track in California with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which had only been open since 1909. How the comparison of the two, what could be done to the automobile industry, because automobile racing at that time was really a development.

of the automobile industry. This is how people tested their cars. There was no test track. They were racing on fairgrounds. They were racing point to point from city to city, or a city would lay out a course and they would race around that. And there was questions about the board tracks getting bigger and more popular and things like that.

New York Times at the time was the newspaper of record. Here’s another photograph, Beverly Hills racetrack. This was 1920 to [00:11:00] 1924. Notice what it looked like when it was in operation. That’s Santa Monica Boulevard and Wilshire Boulevard. Where the big red dot is is the approximate location of the racetrack.

The racetrack actually came back beyond where the red roofed houses are. You can see the size of this. This was a two mile track. This was in 1920, and this was the first track that used Searle’s Spiral. Easement curve. This actually was used by railroads to make it easier for trains to go around the curve.

Let’s say you had a curve on your track. First turn was 1, 500 feet around. Let’s just use that for numbers. Easement curve would, every 500 feet, it would shorten for a little bit the radius on that curve, so it would be easier to turn the car through the turn. Then when you got through it, it would go the other way.

And Art Pillsbury used this with Jack [00:12:00] Prince. This is when they first became partners. Pillsbury believed this was his way for the cars to go around these tracks at the high speeds that they were going. And he also said an ideal board racing track would allow a car to go around without turning the wheel at all.

When we drive on the highway, you’re going around the curve. You’re going to turn the wheel a little bit, little bit this way. You would just hold your hand steady and the car would go around. What made it so possible for these cars to go very, very fast for their time. Imagine now how many people realize that where they once lived was a racetrack.

I don’t think many people would 2019 picture of Santa Monica and Wilshire Boulevard. Board tracks were easy to construct because it was framing a house, effectively. You had long, 18, 20 foot, sometimes longer, pieces of wood that were put down on a frame. And in other photographs, you’ll see the [00:13:00] outside of how it looked.

And you just needed a lot of men with a lot of nails and a lot of hammers. The Atlantic City Motor Speedway was a mile and a half. They built it start to finish with 700 men, and all they did was just pound nails. The tracks approximately on the straightaway were from 40 to 60 feet wide. Turns were 70, 75 feet wide.

They used millions of board feet. They used whatever they could to bring the product into the area where it was being built. From heavy trucks to horse drawn wagons, because remember, this was the early part of the 20th century. You see the steep nature of the board track. This is a turn, and it looks much like someone when they’re going up the roof of a house sometimes.

It’s really pretty effective. They went up rather quickly when they were built. The only problem with wood out in the weather is unless you do something to preserve it, you’re going to have some problems, and there were no tracts effectively that used any kind of wood preservative. Most of the [00:14:00] wood was pine wood like you’d use in a house construction.

Some tried harder woods, but that didn’t necessarily work either. And you can see the damage to this board track. What would happen during the races when something broke, which did, it would sit from underneath. Peter Palo one time said the most interesting thing he experienced as a board track racer was the head of someone popping up in the hole to see where he had to fix the track.

This is a picture of the Laurel Speedway, which was also known as the Baltimore Washington Speedway. This is opening day, July 11th, 1925. You can see in the far corner the, uh, banking and how that looks, and the massive size on acres of ground these tracks were. But the thing that impressed me most about this picture, and look at all the straw hats, there were not very many women that were in the grandstand and wherever area this was taken.

This was one of the more popular tracks, and as I pointed out here, you went to the races to see [00:15:00] things, but you also saw things besides racing cars. Frequently airplane demonstrations, because in the early and the late teens, it was a new item. They had balloon races, daytime fireworks, bands that were there.

My uncle and my grandmother and grandfather went to the track in the Atlantic City Motor Speedway. And my dad said that he remembered all the people that were there. There were 85, 000 or so at the time he went, and all the cars. And they had an interesting race besides the automobile race. They had what they called an ambulance race.

They had half a dozen race car drivers, a half a dozen ambulances. A half a dozen doctors and a half a dozen orderlies. And on the backstretch of the Atlantic City Motor Speedway, they had six dummies that were supposed to be injured people or someone who were needed medical care. And the idea of the race was to see who could get to the dummy first and get back to the starting line and that was going to be the [00:16:00] winner.

They also had stock car races at these and we’ll talk about this later. My father said, because he became a doctor, that was something he remembered from the race, other than all the excitement of that. But this is just a general good look at an opening day at a board track speedway. Notice all the people in the infield.

Notice all the people in the grandstand. Ticket prices were a dollar. Up to 10, 12, which again, we’re talking about times in the 20s and so you could say a dollar in the 20s is worth about 15 today. So it was a good chunk of your money, but the people had a good time and the board tracks attracted a lot of attention.

Here again is the board track in at Baltimore, Washington. Notice the extreme banking of the speedway, the cars, millers down on the lower picture going into the first turn. Fields of races had anywhere 15, maybe 20 were the top number in the entry. But you can see on the outside [00:17:00] of this lower picture what some of the support structure was.

All wood. There were two tracks that didn’t have a wood base. The Sheepshead Bay in Brooklyn. That was a metal base, and the other was the Tacoma track, which was actually built in the ground. This was a mile and a quarter track, and because of the nature of board track racing, speed was the thing that was involved, pit stops, and so those weren’t really expected.

If you had a pit stop, you were not going to race for first place. This was a 45 degree banking in this track, and that’s generally what the banking was in these bigger tracks. Here is the Tacoma track, and what’s interesting about this track, as I said, is this track was built in the ground. You can see in the picture on the right here, they built the banking.

You can see the dirt. They put the boards in the ground. And then they filled it with asphalt. Notice the two race cars on the bottom here. You can barely pick it out, but they have a screen in front of their radiator because the asphalt and gravel didn’t do [00:18:00] anything but come up and bang into the cars.

In fact, there were frequent tire explosions. The drivers were injured. Notice they’re two man cars. Tacoma, to compensate for this, placed high winning prizes so they would get all the top drivers. But of all the tracks that were national championship tracks, this was the one that was most disliked by the racers.

In fact, one of the comments was at the time, board track racing is really not that much fun because the tracks are not good. And then there’s Tacoma. The other thing that’s interesting about the Tacoma track is, notice that it’s not a round track or it’s not an oval track. It was built on the land that was available, much like the Darlington Speedway has the two different curves.

But the other thing that’s interesting about this track, it’s one of the very few that is even recognized today as having been there. There’s a historical marker in the center of the track. picture that shows where the Tacoma track was. What is located [00:19:00] where Tacoma is now is a community college. These are the people who I would say are probably the most famous people to come out of the board track era.

Jack Prince over on the left. You can see he was a big, strong man. Most of the big, rugged guys, because the race on big bicycles, they weren’t the three pound machines that are available now. Jack Prince was from 1910 to 1927 involved in just about all the tracks. Although when Art Pillsbury joined him in 1920, the whole nature of the board track development changed just because of that spiral easement curve.

The interesting thing also about Art, after he designed all these board tracks, he also became a top ranked official in the American Automobile Association’s, uh, racing situation. He was the West Coast supervisor for a long time, and he had important roles at the Indianapolis 500. The bottom four people are four men who did a lot for [00:20:00] board track racing, especially in the second part in the 20s, because most of the cars were Miller’s or Duesenberg’s.

Harry Miller, of course, was a famous person before he even got involved in racing because he manufactured carburetors. Here’s an ad for a Miller carburetor. Dario Resta, Johnny Aiton, and Eddie Rickenbacker all used the Miller Carburetor, and that was a popular carburetor used by lots of people in lots of different things, not only in automobile racing, but in make your car better.

One of the things that was interesting, the research of this era, there were a lot of aftermarket companies that were making things to make the automobile that the people were driving daily a better automobile. Lower picture shows Harry Miller with one of his Miller engines. They were straight A. He was involved with the Puget Grand Prix car before he got involved in racing on a full time scale.

The maintenance of that car and the Puget had a lot to do [00:21:00] with the development of the Miller engines and also the Offenhauser engine, which you see on the right here. Interesting thing about Harry Miller is his shop foreman was Fred H. Offenhauser, who became the man who developed the Offenhauser racing engine.

It’s also another Fred Offenhauser, Fred C. Fred C. was Fred H. ‘s nephew. And they worked together, but they didn’t like each other very much. They had problems working together, but they did. And Fred C. was a pretty decent machinist, so Fred H. caped him around. Fred C. went in the Navy and World War II. And after he got out of the Navy, he saw it.

Well, I don’t want to work for my uncle again. I’m going to start my own business. He’s the man that developed the Offenhauser speed equipment. The stuff you see, the valve covers, the intake manifolds, this, that, and the other. They had problems with the name. One thought the other shouldn’t be using the name.

So each one sued the other. Took this to court, and they sued because [00:22:00] they wanted the exclusive right to use the name Offenhauser. Well, the judge, I guess this must have been a fun time too, having two people yell about the same thing. The judge decided they could both use the name Offenhauser because it was their name.

However, legally, the judge ruled that the only thing that could be called an offie Is the four cylinder racing engine. So if you hear I got off the head covers, actually they’re often Hauser ed covers. They can’t use the name. The other thing about the, uh, off the engine is that Leo Goosen from the time he began working with Harry Miller right up until his death, and he passed away in 1974.

He did a great deal with automobile racing engines. He was the one when George Sally decided he wanted to have the lay down engine in his 1957 Indianapolis car. He’s the one that redesigned that so the oil would flow properly because it was 18 degrees from being [00:23:00] flat. An outstanding gentleman and Harry Miller thought enough of Leo Goosen to tell him In 1925, you’ve done outstanding work for my company.

I appreciate everything you do. This year, I’m going to pay you a dollar an hour. That was a high, high rate for him. And at that time, that was about 15 an hour in today’s money. So those are people, and of course, the Duesenbergs are interesting. Because they were in automobile racing, actually, to sell automobiles.

They made their racing cars because the Duesenbergs were sold to people only as rolling chassis. If you wanted a Duesenberg, you would buy the Duesenberg rolling chassis, then take it to a body man, and he would make it. for you. Here’s a example at the top left of Eddie Hearn, who was a Duesenberg racer.

And if you can see the ad, it tells about the engine, how powerful it is because they’re selling the engine. They’re [00:24:00] selling. The Duesenberg Model J, the lower part, talks about the frame and the engine. And you would buy Duesenbergs for 8, 500, then take it to a coach builder who would complete your car. In the time that the Model J Duesenberg was being sold.

8, 500 was about 125, 000 in today’s money. That’s just for the chassis, tires, wheels, running gear. Then you take it to the coach builder and he would charge you at least that much or even more. It’s possible that these cars together were worth a quarter of a million dollars in. The late 1920s. There you see Duesenberg Model A chassis.

That’s what the ads were all talking about. The top picture there is of Peter DiPaolo’s 1925 Indianapolis 500 winner. That was a Duesenberg and the difference between Duesenberg Racing and Duesenberg Motors is all the [00:25:00] Duesenberg engines were fashioned by the Lycoming machine and they were designed by the Duesenbergs.

But they didn’t have an engine manufacturing situation like Miller did. I mentioned E. L. Cord in the back, in the end of that sentence there. E. L. Cord bought the Duesenberg company in the late 1920s. And he developed the Duesenberg as part of the, uh, companies that he owned. And there’s that straight eight Duesenberg logo, which was very famous at the time.

This is maybe the most interesting car that ever raced on a board track. See, Hal Scott Aviation Motors. This was a man who developed aviation engines in race cars, not in airplanes. And you see, it looks really like a giant go kart. And he raced it at least one time, I’ve been able to find, in April 1912, on the half mile Oakland track.

So it was just an unusual thing, but it was also a very fast car. It was one of the first to ever go 60 miles an hour, which at the time was really going [00:26:00] something. Just the kind of things during the early years of board track racing that you would see. These next few pictures are just to give you an idea of some of the cars that are raced.

Caleb Bragg is the man who beat Barney Ofield in that first race at Playa del Rey. But he was considered a novice driver because he wasn’t professional in his racing, he was a novice. And he actually took the place of Ralph De Palma, who was supposed to race against Oldfield. But there was something wrong with De Palma’s Fiat, so he substituted and he beat the famous Barney Oldfield.

Barney, of course, was a bicycle racer before he became an automobile racer. Also notice that these were both chain drive automobiles. And that Blitzen Benz, that was the world speed record holder at the time. Now we’re going a little later. This is 1916, a DeLage from France. There’s a Hudson. These, again, were cars that were stripped down, racing bodies put on, and they [00:27:00] used them as race cars and used them to test the vehicles that were being built by Hudson and DeLage.

Here’s a Stutz Bearcat and an early Duesenberg. Imagine, I’d say, going 100 miles an hour and something like that. With no safety belts. Nothing safety wise at all except what was built into the race car. Another thing that was interesting doing research on board track racing was the artwork and how the things were designed, the race programs.

And so this is a 1915 souvenir program at Sheepshead Bay. Just a beautiful painting. Look at some of the cars in the pictures below. These were standard automobiles that had been converted. They were all two man cars with a variety of engines. And again, note the guardrail perpendicular to the ground, not perpendicular to the race course.

Now we’re getting into some of the more famous names. This is Lewis Chevrolet. This is a red Buick Bug. We forget a lot about, uh, [00:28:00] people back then that there were colors for these cars. And this was a beautiful red car. Buick’s the oldest active name in the American automobile industry. And this is a car that Lewis Chevrolet raced on board tracks and so.

Just a pretty car. And it was something, again, you see, uh, very basic and a lot to handle. And in the bottom, you see the Frontenacs, which were the cars that the Chevrolets built. We talk about the Fronties and the Fronty Fords. We talk about them. In research, I found these Fronty cars were sometimes called Chevrolet cars, even though Chevrolet was no longer involved with General Motors.

But so famous, they were recognized as such, and there had board track victories in these. And again, these were two man cars that were done because that’s the way the AAA had their ruling for that time. High speeds, 115, 120 miles an hour as we see. 622 cubic inches. It’s a big engine to produce just 58 horsepower, isn’t [00:29:00] it?

This is the racing car that Harry Miller ever built, called the Golden Submarine. He and Barney Oldfield built it, as Bob Berman, who we mentioned before, was their great friend. And Bob had a Peugeot, and Bob was racing in the Corona race in California in 1916. When off the track, he was killed. His riding mechanic was killed.

Several other people were serious injuries because it was a road race and something happened to the car. And you’re standing a couple of feet away from the racing surface or the highway, because that’s, there just wasn’t any thought to anything. So they thought, how can we do something to protect the driver?

Harry Miller and Barney Oldfield put their heads together and they thought, well, if we build something that can enclose the driver and put. something over the top and that’s just what they did. As it points out here, this is the first racing car with a roll cage and it’s the first all electrically welded steel frame [00:30:00] automobile ever produced in this country.

This was a gold car, that’s why they called it the Golden Submarine. Harry Miller built a four cylinder engine. It was a two man car and you got in it and out the door. The exhaust pipe, however, From this design of the car went through the car between the driver and the passenger. Barney Oldfield raced this car quite a bit.

He did, however, flip into the infield lake at Lakewood Speedway in Atlanta, and that brought about picture number two. He almost drowned in that thing. So they cut everything away but the front of the bodywork, and he’s racing around in a vehicle that looks like that. With some success. And after he quit racing that car in 1908, the engine still ran very well.

And he liked the way that performed. He made this into the old field special Roscoe Sorrell’s riding mechanic, Waldo Stein. And this was the first car that was the Miller brand at the Indianapolis motor speedway. [00:31:00] This is Ralph De Palma, very famous, very popular. One thousands of races, supposedly. Steven’s going to talk a little bit more about Ralph De Palma.

How he could win a thousand races? Well, you figure races of one mile, one lap, because it was a challenge race. So you beat so and so, you won. That’s how that happened. But anyway, he was an excellent racer. And this is an automobile that’s built on the Packard chassis, but it was built by Packard because they were interested in airplane engines prior to World War I.

But they didn’t want to go through the expense of testing the airplane engine in an airplane. So they tested it in a racing car. They made a 299 or 300 cubic inch V 12 and they tested this engine for several years. And this is the engine that became the Liberty V 12 engine in World War II and it eventually powered the P 51, which was one of the outstanding airplanes of the Second World [00:32:00] War.

The other interesting thing about this particular car is we think, well, they didn’t have the Indianapolis 500 during the World War I and sometimes people say, well, there was no automobile racing during World War I. There actually was. There just was no national champion. There was no Indianapolis 500 because the 500 depended a lot on the European cars coming over.

So they raced quite a bit during the World War I years. But while they were doing that, Ralph DePalma was actually a captain in the United States Army, working on the development of this engine for airplane use. And Jesse Vincent was his manager at Packard. He was a colonel in this same unit, Wright Field in Ohio, working on the development of this engine during World War I.

Which became the World War II engine. There was racing and there was quite a lot of racing everywhere except Indianapolis. This is Lewis Chevrolet’s business. The [00:33:00] Frontenac Lewis and Arthur and Gaston Chevrolet were very famous automobile racers. This particular car is showing Gaston Chevrolet and it’s in his Monroe.

The Monroe race cars were green. The Frontenac race cars were the exact same race car, except they were red. So a Fronty and a Monroe were the same cars, just different colors. And Gaston Chevrolet was a very popular racer, very good racer. He was also posthumously Team 20 AAA champion because he was killed in an accident at Beverly Hills Speedway.

But you can see the board track, he’s there, see the wider panels on the infield and the racing 2x4s which were put on their end is what the race cars raced on. The front and ax cylinder heads were very popular on the Ford Model T and also you can see the advertisement talking about the fronty cylinder heads for other models.

Application Chevrolet, whippets, things [00:34:00] like that. These were again, part of the large number of people making aftermarket product. Match racing was popular during the early board track years. Here we have the golden submarine. We have the white, the palm of the car and the Chevrolet in the center. They toured.

As a group, and we did match races together. This particular race, there were three races. Ralph De Palma won all three. But look at all the people in the grandstands. This is Sheepshead Bay in Brooklyn, New York. 1917. 40, 000 spectators at this board track event. This was the main attraction. All right, we talked about not having races during the World War I years at Indianapolis, but they did at Cincinnati.

This was, again, a two mile track, big track. Look at the grandstand, look at the lineup of cars. They ran five abreast, paid a lot of money. It was a thing that people were interested in doing even during the World War I time. Again, there’s a advertisement for the race. Look at the pretty colors, the artwork, look at the [00:35:00] admission price, dollar and a half.

Multiply that 10 or 15 times because the dollar was worth a lot more then than what it’s actual shows there. Here it says on the bottom about the Cincinnati track actually closed because of the exposure to the elements, but some of the wood was used to make a bar. That’s what happened a lot of these tracks too when they closed.

They couldn’t do anything anymore with the racetrack. But they would sell the wood to construction people and they would use the, uh, wood to build houses and whatever needed to be done. July 4th, 1919, celebrating Eddie Rickenbacker. Eddie Rickenbacker, some of you may know, was a very prominent automobile racer prior to his service in World War I.

And I’m just going to read here just a little bit about Rickenbacker to give you an idea, not only about Eddie, but the kind of success that people who were professional auto racers could have in these eras. Rickenbacker was from Columbus, Ohio. He was a young man whose father [00:36:00] died when he was 12, so he had to quit school and go out and work.

He got a lot of Part time jobs, a lot of jobs involving his hands. He became very interested in mechanical things and began taking correspondence courses in engineering. He would get a letter every so often and here’s this information he would do is send it back and get another one. And so. This is another way of education during this time when people couldn’t go to school, but they wanted to improve themselves in 1910.

He was 19 years old. He had been working at the Firestone Columbus factory in Columbus, Ohio, that made automobiles. They were made one of the first left hand automobiles in this country. He had been a riding mechanic in the Vanderbilt Cup races with Lee Frayer. He had been involved in this so much and had done so well that by 17 years old, he was the shop foreman of the machine shop for the Firestone Columbus company, but he wanted to do something better.

He wanted to improve himself and go on and do other [00:37:00] things. So they made him a salesman of Firestone Columbus cars, and he was given the Omaha territory. He was 19 years old at the time in 1910. And what this required was he would take people for rides and how good it was. And how powerful it was and how much this and that try and get them to buy it.

And then he’d encourage them to come out to the races and see how the engine performed against other cars. Cause they had lots of races on fairgrounds tracks and city to city, any place that had a race, he would compete in, in this Firestone Columbus car that he turned into a four cylinder racing car.

And he did very well as a salesman and he did very well as a racer. Raced at every race within a hundred miles of Columbus with one of these cars that he developed. 1911, he was a relief driver in the first Indianapolis 500. Drove 370 miles and his car finished 13th in the race. Again, with Lee Frayer, they shared the ride.

Then in 1912, again, he drove his [00:38:00] relief, but the company was nearly bankrupt. So he left the Columbus Buggy Company. At the time, he wanted to be a professional racer, so he went and did that. The only problem was he had been barred by the AAA because he had been racing in a lot of unsanctioned races and they didn’t like that.

The interesting thing was the contest board that barred him, he was the head of that contest board from 1927 to 1946. In late 1912, he went to Des Moines, Iowa, and began working for the World’s Fair. Duesenberg Brothers, who had located there, is a 3 a day mechanic, and he was also their racing manager for the Mason Automobile Company.

This is how they got their start involved in racing, but racing, Masons worked well for the Duesenbergs and for Rickenbacker until the Mason Company decided they were going to get out of racing. So what do they do? Duesenbergs decide we’re going to start our own company. They did this in [00:39:00] 1914. They made Eddie the head of their racing division.

They had two cars in the first Indianapolis 500. They performed well. Eddie won a lot of races, including the 300 mile race at the Sioux City track, which was a two mile dirt track. And it was one of the biggest races of the 1914 season. He won 10, 000, which at the time was over 250, 000 in our money. And this was actually what saved the Duesenbergs from going bankrupt.

After the 1914 season, he went to the Maxwell team. He won many races with that, including several board track races. And Maxwell was getting out of racing. So he bought the racing cars from Maxwell with the help of Carl Fisher and Fred Allison, the Prestolite company and named them the Prestolite specials.

And with those cars, he won a lot of dirt races and he won three major board track races during 1916, as [00:40:00] well as racing and dirt and road races. The board track races he won were at Sheepshead Bay at Des Moines and a 300 mile or at. Tacoma. This is where he was being honored. And that’s the car that he won the Tacoma race in with a riding mechanic because that was the rules of the time.

And then his last win was at 150 mile race at the Ascot Speedway in California, which at the time was a mile track. That was actually the end of Eddie Duesenberg’s automobile racing career. He had 41 national championship races, seven victories. And he also in 1916 won 60, 000 as an automobile racer.

Today, that’s about a million and a half dollars. So he was very successful. He joined the air force after that first started as the driver for blackjack Pershing, then got into the air service, wanted to start an air division with former racing drivers, but they, for some reason, didn’t want to do that. He became the Ace of [00:41:00] Aces, 26 victories.

That’s one of the aircraft, the Scout, the SPAD that he used. And then later in the 1930s, he was awarded the Medal of Honor for his service during World War I. But here on this particular day, they’re honoring Eddie Rickenbacker. Notice the other names. Louis Chevrolet, Dario Resta, Eddie Hearn, Cliff Durant.

Ralph Mumford, a major sports personalities in automobile racing. Here’s Harry Hartz and Harlan Fangler. Harlan Fangler, of course, for years was very involved in the Indianapolis 500. Harry Hartz was 1926 champion, an exceptional board track racer. This is a 1922 Dursenberg that raced in the 1921 French Grand Prix.

That was the first French Grand Prix after World War I. And you see the number on the tail. The laws at the time required any vehicle on the roads in France to have a number. 1924 Duesenberg was the first American supercharged race car, just to see how it’s developed over the years. Talk about board [00:42:00] track racers.

These are two ads from the 1920s. And these people were equal to Jack Dempsey, equal to Babe Ruth, as far as being stars. Notice the picture in the center, Fred Wagner, he was the official starter for all the board track races. He was the official starter for all the AAA races, but he was as well known. as the people who were the racing and the racetracks where they race.

Here is a late 1920s ad. Again, the Dusenbergs were interested in selling automobiles. They used racing to do that. And here’s an ad showing all the various ways that the Dusenberg was a outstanding vehicle for its chassis, its driveline, and its engine because that’s what they were selling the people.

How would you let your people know about it? Well, that left panel there shows the handouts that were given and it’s the Atlantic city motor speedway, their first race. And there’s a guarantee and the top left that says these races aren’t fixed. This isn’t hippodrome [00:43:00] because in the early years of automobile racing, especially the international motor contest, this is, these would go around the tracks.

And they would have races and they would promote this driver. Let’s see if he can win here. And there’s the battle between this driver at driver. Well, these were all races that were already picked and they were just seeing something on the racetrack, but they guaranteed you that these were races. That were true races, national and international speed king.

And these were handouts. All the tracks had these particular things. Media was very interested in auto people racing. You can look through and see some of these things like this magazine. Look at the artwork on the front of the board track. there. This was something that attracted people’s attention. The newsreels, you can go on the internet and see newsreels of board track racing because they were photographed, there were excitement, there were speed.

Also, entertainment used board track racing. One of the early movies that Charlie Chaplin made was of an automobile race. Why? A lot [00:44:00] of people there. It was in the daytime because that’s how they filmed things. They didn’t have studio work. They had to be out. where there was bright sun. So they used racing as something that people were interested in.

The Roaring Twenties was a great time for automobile racing. Here’s some modern mechanics and inventions. We probably know that as Mechanics Illustrated. This is the beginning of Mechanics Illustrated. This particular man, Ray Kuntz, was a automotive engineer and is identified as an authority on automobile racing.

He’s encouraging young men to become automobile racers. He’s telling them how much money they can make, how easy it is to convert a model a or a model T into a racing car. He even in the article tells you some of the parts that you need, how much they cost, how easy it is to build, how many of us wanted to be racers when we were kids, how many of us had our parents say, yeah, Herbie, go ahead.

I don’t think too bad, but that’s what it was in the twenties. Here’s a [00:45:00] pamphlet that Arthur Chevrolet offered for 2, or if you brought a Fondi head, you got it for free. It was an eight page pamphlet with no photographs in it, but it told you directly and entirely how to convert a Ford Model T into a winning race car, what you needed, how long it had to be.

The first thing was to take the chassis at a hundred inch wheel base. The first thing he said was you make that 88 and it told that, and it was very popular. Here’s another example of advertisement. You could buy like you can today. You can go to anyone by modified stock car for parts, put them together like a giant model kit.

Here you could build a racing car. Out of a Ford that was good on dirt tracks, brick, or board tracks. 750 for a complete frame. That would be about 10, 000 today. This will give you an idea of the cost of these things. And this, I’ll tell you a little interesting story. I wanted to say how are we going to relate this to what’s today.

So, well, let’s say [00:46:00] 1925, that would be a good year because of a couple of things. Let me see what the average income was in 1925. So I typed in the computer, average income, 1925. 14. 40 was 3, 078. 27. Good, now we’re going to have to compare it to today. So I figured, let me try, see what average income 2018 figure gives the whole year.

Boy, that was a chore. No matter what government site I went on, they talked about average income for people that were particular age, average income for people in the Northeast, average income for people in the particular state. I’m sure if I looked hard enough, it would have average income for people who are blonde, left handed, and wear green shoes.

It was just that difficult. The average income today For all of us, somewhere between 50, 000 and 52, 000, according to the U. S. Department of Labor. That was at the bottom. But look at the prices! Pound of [00:47:00] bacon, 0. 47. That would be 6. 70 today. And you can see down the side. Postage stamp, 0. 02. The only thing that’s interesting about all of these As you see, a gallon of gas costs 2.

88. In town, they’re selling, what was it, 2. 69. So we’re doing better now than in 1925. But you see here, 1925, that was the first year for the front wheel drive Miller. And the front wheel drive Miller cost 15, 000 in 1925. That’s 216, 000. A Ralph De Palma, 10, 000. That’s 144, 000. These prices did not change from the first made until the time they were ended.

They all stayed 15, 000 or 10, 000, which I thought was very interesting. And in 1925, if you wanted to buy a Model T, it only cost you 260. So you can see there was a wide difference in the cost like there is now of racing cars and a [00:48:00] Miller engine. If you blew your engine. 5, 000, which is 72, 000 in today. So that gives you a little idea of what the money values on these things are.

Here is the Miller specifications. I would point out that the fuel tank came in the Miller 25 gallons, but for longer races, they would put in up to 40 gallons. There was even one racer and I forget who it was who had a round. Tank like a giant basketball. So all the fuel would get down. There wouldn’t be anything laying around, but you see the workmanship.

These are just beautiful cars. This is what got me interested in these cars. I saw Miller’s, I saw pictures of Miller’s and I just thought they were. Beautiful. Notice the engine size 1920 to 22 was 183 cubic inches or three liters. That was when the AAA contest board decided to change the engines because they were going to be the same as the international limit on engines due to the French Grand Prix.

That’s how three [00:49:00] liter engine, and then they went down. And so like that, the bottom is a engine tag. It gives the firing order of the engine that. Harry Miller developed. All hand built, just beautiful racing cars. Notice the tire sizes, too. And here’s Jimmy Murphy, who was an outstanding board track racer, king of the boards.

He is the person who decided that it might be an idea to try a front wheel drive car, to pull the car through the corner, rather than push it through. He thought it would be, engineering wise, a better thing. And he had Harry Miller build one of these things. Unfortunately, Jimmy Murphy never got to drive that car.

He was killed at Syracuse in an accident going for the lead. That was in 1924, so he never got to drive this car. But this car appeared for the first time in the 1925 Indianapolis 500 and finished second, driven by Dave Lewis. And they were very popular, very fast. The interesting thing about the Miller, as though it was a good idea with the front wheel drive, the [00:50:00] Miller, A front wheel and rear wheel drive car won about the same amount.

Front wheel drive car was only a car that raced at Indianapolis and the board tracks. It did not race on the dirt tracks at all. The nine, ten years of board track racing, they used regular street tires. Whatever was on the car was what they used, and of course they caused problems. Gum dipping was a procedure to keep the heat away from the tire, but they were street tires.

And as wide as your hand, they weren’t very big at all. And they were inflated to 50 pounds. This was a hard, hard tire. Then in the 20s, they started making dedicated racing tires because they understood the problems they were having. At Indianapolis 500, you’d maybe go 10 or 15 laps in these tires and have to change them.

So that’s why they had the dedicated racing tires. And they started to balance tires. Sid Huggdahl was the first racer who balanced tires to get better wear out of them. This, again, was in the 1920s. In 1925, Firestone introduced, for the [00:51:00] highway, the balloon tire. Better traction, better handling. It was cooler.

Did all the things it wanted to do, and they developed from that. The Firestone Gum Dip Balloon Racing Tire was introduced in 1925. It won with Peter DiPaolo. Bigger cross section. Contact patch was bigger. On dirt tracks and at Indianapolis, 35 pounds on board tracks, 65 to 75, the high speeds and the high G forces in the turns, they needed something to stabilize the cars a little bit better, get a little more speed out of the wire wheels.

And so board tracks, they ran with a toe in of 1 8th to 3 inch because the high speeds would open the wheels up. On the lower size tracks, on the dirt tracks, they would run with a tow out because the speeds would push the tires in, so that was just a little bit of difference there. Also, the reason I used the Oldfield tire was, Barney Oldfield, when he retired from racing, became the firestone manager of racing.

And [00:52:00] the 1920, Indianapolis 500s, you may see in Historical ads are credited to being won by Firestone, which is true because Firestone made the Oldfield Tire and the cars that Tommy Milton, Gaston Chevrolet, and Jimmy Murphy rode in those Indianapolis 500 wins are all Oldfield Tires. And if you look closely at the pictures in the winner’s circle, you can see it says Oldfield Tires on their race car.

So the first. Three years of Firestone’s wins in that long series were on Oldfield Tire. Here’s an interesting track. This is the one in Miami, Florida. Mile and a quarter, Fulford Miami Speedway. Carl G. Fisher was developing Miami. He also had a board track down there. His general manager was Ray Haroon.

And the track ran one race. Won by Peter DiPaolo in the Duesenberg. Harry Hartz and the Miller. Not long after this race on February 22nd, the great hurricane [00:53:00] in September of 1926 came through. And that’s a picture of the racetrack after the hurricane came through. Absolutely destroyed it. There was nothing that was left of it.

All that wood was used to rebuild the Miami area. Board track events. Here we talked about some of this varied length. races, things like that, things to get people to come to the races. There was one 500 mile race. The lineups were cars that were developed by the manufacturers. 1920, 1931. This is when it became more of a dedicated racing series.

All of the national championship were on board tracks. There were still other kinds of racing, but they were mostly millers. and Duesenbergs and the Fronty Fords and the Frontenacs were 1920 to 1924 because those engines did not ever have a supercharger on them. The other interesting thing about the 20s to 1931, mostly during this time, numbers were assigned to cars based on the decision of [00:54:00] the contest board or how the car was entered into the race.

1924, that was the first year they assigned numbers based on how you did. The year before. So if you see a 1925 picture with number one, that car was the winner of the championship in 1924. Here’s an official program showing Barney Oilfield and Louis Chevrolet special race. There’s the Los Angeles Speedway, that was the Beverly Hills Speedway, but that was also known as Los Angeles Speedway.

The reason I put this on here, 1928 State fair, this was the year that board track racing was really on the way down. So the AAA contest board decided that dirt be brought into the old, as far as national championship races. That’s how this became the first national championship dirt race in a long time at the state fairground.

Stock car races were special things. They see the number one and the two, they are actually cars that could have been driven to the track because stock car racing [00:55:00] was just what it said. Stock car racing. Notice the spare tire, the windshields. The headlights, that’s what they raced. They were specialty races.

Also, motorcycles ran on the board tracks, and I say those people just did things differently. A lot of accidents and so, but they used them. The bottom picture is what is considered by historians as the first real stock car, in the fact of a racing stock car. In 1933, the AAA sanctioned its first road race, which was the Elgin Road Race in Illinois.

And Fred Frame, one with this car. Notice there are no fenders, no windshield, no spare tire. There was a little bit of work that could be done. So this is what they consider the first stock car built. And this car is currently owned by Dana Mecham of the Mecham Auto Auctions. Louie Meyer. In 1985, I had the opportunity to write a story about him and spoke to him for over an hour about automobile racing.

Wonderful man. Everyone I’ve talked to who’s known him. And I’ve [00:56:00] talked to several people, said he was a gentleman, and that’s how he treated me. He won three board track races. He started as a mechanic and then to a driver, then became a Indianapolis 500 winner and champion. He had the Meyer Drake engines for a while, then he had the Ford racing engines.

And this is his 1928 Miller that won the Talked to him about a lot of things, and when he said he wanted to be a board track driver, Pop Wagner said to him, Okay, you get out on the track, but if you pass anybody, I’m going to flag you in. There was no other way to learn how to drive, so you had to drive around the back to learn.

And he became very adept at it. And I asked him, well, who are some good board track drivers? And you say, Hartz, Leon DeRay. A lot of them, he said, but Frank Lockhart, he said, was just very good. And Frank Lockhart was maybe one of the best race drivers and engineering people that we have ever dealt with.

This car was the car that Frank Lockhart set a world record and that stood for 30 years. Fred [00:57:00] Wagner, he was the starter for all the board track races. He was the official starter for AAA for over 20 years. And he started out to be a runner. And then he started flagging, getting involved with that.

Interesting that he holds the checkered flag. He’s the first person to ever be photographed with a checkered flag is in the 1906 Vanderbilt cup races. He also not only was. He was the man who checked the track for security and safety. He was the man who got all the money before the races started. He was the man who assigned positions.

He was the man who would call fouls because they had no communication. Something happened on the track, he was it. He was the man at the end of the race who would tell you where you’re going to pick up your train to take your trip to the next race. He would get housing for the people. And in his spare time, he wrote a nationally syndicated column on automobile racing.

But the most interesting thing about all his involvement with automobile racing, he [00:58:00] didn’t know how to drive an automobile. Here are the signals that he would wave. True 1929, this was about standard. Here’s the official thing from the AAA handbook. Red, that meant the course was clear. That’s how they started the race.

Yellow. The course was blocked. You slow green. You are entering your last lap white stop for consulting and the pits and the checkered flag. You are finished. They changed it in 1930, the triple a contest board, because they wanted to be a little more current. That’s when the traffic signal said red stop, yellow caution, green go.

So they changed those signals. Although notice, the white still meant stop, and the black was added, which means you were entering your last lap. That was in 1930. That again was changed in 1937, for the white meaning you’re entering your last lap, and the black flag meant that you were stopped. And since, that’s been basically the American racing flag.

Here’s a map that shows where the [00:59:00] tracks were during their lifetime. And it was interesting that Louis Meyer told me he and his wife would travel from Los Angeles, where he lived, to Indianapolis, because that was the center location for all the racing. But he only covered about a hundred paved miles during that entire trip.

Everything else was gravel or something worse. He’d stay at a farmer’s house for a dollar and a half, get paid. Big breakfast and they’d send you on your way. Racing, you would stay at a buddy’s house if you were at a racetrack and so. All the cars were shipped by rail. Atlantic City was interesting because they had two rail lines into Atlantic City because during World War I, the location of the Atlantic City track was a ammunition loading plant.

Here’s how cars got to the racetrack. This is a 1917 Hudson. This was a dark blue car, by the way. And this also made it possible for races to be announced at major locations. They came on railroad cars. When they got to the station, leave them out so the people would know there’s a race in town. The bottom is Umbrella [01:00:00] Mike Boyle, who was a Indianapolis car owner.

He was the head of the Chicago Electrical Union. And they used the, uh, Diamond T truck to get it from the railroad station to the track. Mike Boyle was an interesting guy. They called him Umbrella Mike because he always walked around with an umbrella. Mike would go in a bar and he’d talk to people and they’d come by and they’d drop a little something into the umbrella.

And Mike had connections. In Chicago, in 1920s. If you needed something done, you saw Mike. This is William Shattuck, who was a pulmonary physician, an actual MD, who became a race driver because he enjoyed working with the people when he was a physician at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. And he bought a car and he raced in 35 events.

Never won one. But he was competitive. He was a relief driver at Indianapolis. He just had some fun doing it. Probably heard a lot of you. I’m sure of Leon Duray, whose actual name was George Stewart. But when he was racing with the international motor contest association, he wanted to be the dashing Frenchman.

So he would [01:01:00] dress in black and his hair combed back. And this worked fine until the French attache in New Orleans wanted to meet the great French driver. And Leon didn’t speak any French, but he was very fast and he was early working with alcohol fuels because the engines were supercharged and needed the power.

And also he eventually became a car owner at Indianapolis. But he also went in 1929 with that front wheel drive car. Sent many records in Europe and also raced in the Italian Grand Prix in Monza. Here, uh, just briefly is the Atlantic City proposal to build the track. You can see how much they were expecting to make.

Cost, the lumber, they actually used over 5 million board feet of wood. This was about a 6 million dollar job in today’s money. And the people who ran this, they were investors of wealth, rich sportsmen, business tycoons and so. Here’s the Atlantic City track. This is opening day. Far picture on the left is [01:02:00] 1926.

This is a rather recent overhead picture of the track. Because this was an ammunition dump and all the chemicals and stuff, they used it when the property was no longer used. The state of New Jersey allowed it to just grow up. It’s now a wildlife area. Terry and I were there a couple of years ago. It’s one of the few former sites that has nothing on it.

There is not even a marker to indicate the history of that track, which had the ammunition dump or the racetrack. But, that’s the way things are. Here’s Harry Hartz, who won the first race, non stop, 300 miles. He won 12, 000 then, that’d be 171, 000 today. Just amazing. This is the official report. Notice they have when the tires were changed, right rear.

Left rear. Things like that. This record that Harry Hart set in that first victory of his lasted for over 30 years. He went 135 miles an hour for his 300 mile race. No one in America ran a [01:03:00] faster race until Sam Hanks won the Indianapolis 500 in 1957. Harry was the National Champion in 1926. He was in a bad crash, spent two years in a hospital, walked around the rest of his life with a cane, but he was very involved in the Speedway and the Technical Committee.

1927, Frank Lockhart set a world record that also stood for over 30 years. It went 147 miles an hour around 729 miles an hour around Atlantic City track. This is a picture of him setting that speed record. This is a qualifying record that was not broken for over 30 years. Leon DeRay in a front wheel drive Miller at the Packard test track went in 1928, 148 miles an hour, but that wasn’t a qualifying record.

So it was, you know, apples and oranges. Notice he has a air intake in front of the cow. This is the engine he did it with. This was an invention that he made with the. A couple other engineers. This was the Intercooler. When the air came into the supercharger [01:04:00] while it was being supercharged, the air fuel mixture was over 300 degrees.

Going through this intercooler before it got into the engine, lowered the temperature by 200 degrees. It went from 300 to 100. This made all the difference. He said this was an oil cooler so people wouldn’t know what it was. Leon DeRay was the next one to make one. Used it on the front wheel drive Miller, but the U shape, it was a five piece unit.

They used gasoline and benzoyl to help power it a little bit more, because the compression was so great on these engines anymore, they needed more than they could get. The first 100 octane fuel wasn’t until 1934, when Jimmy Doolittle with Shell Oil Company made the first aviation fuel with that. level.

Here again is the report of that race. The yellow I outline this tells about the speed record that he sent at the bottom. It shows his speed 147. 729. Cliff Woodbury was second fastest that day. He was almost four miles an hour slower. Here’s the tires that they [01:05:00] used. Notice the pressures were very high.

The sizes. Each race they identified the tire being used by serial number. This was part of the official records and they show what happened and how people went out of the race or something broke, someone ran out of gas, non stop, things like that. Atlantic City Speedway was also known as Speedway, New Jersey.

That was in the official records. They wanted to do that and promote it because although it was listed as Hamilton, it was actually in a township and they wanted to make something else like Indianapolis, which is actually in Speedway, Indiana. And sometimes it was called Amatol because of the ammunition plant.

Here when Lockhart set that record, the speed at Indianapolis was 113 miles an hour. Tony Bentenhausen was the man who broke Lockhart’s qualifying record, 176. 830 at Monza when they had the Race of Two Worlds. Then George Amick broke what was then the American record at Daytona. He unfortunately was killed [01:06:00] in that special 100 lap race.

It was the only Indianapolis car race at Daytona. And then the first time that someone went faster than Frank Lockhart at Indianapolis was when Jim Hurtabees. Went 149 miles an hour in 1960. The last board track winner was Shorty Catlin, and that was at Altoona. Altoona was the longest living board track.

It was there for longer than any other. Woodbridge was one of the small half mile tracks. The last winner was Burt Carnance. That’s the site of the Woodbridge High School football stadium. So that was one of the ones that lasted through. And here are your top board track winners, Murphy, Milton, you see all names that you remember.

Thought I’d highlight Tommy Milton for a minute because of his 50 board track wins, land speed records, Indianapolis, all the things he did. He was 100 percent blind in his right eye and had limited vision in his left. And there he is in the Miller. Here, Gaston Chevrolet when he was killed. This was a major, major event.

This was a dangerous sport. There’s no question [01:07:00] about it. They’re going so fast and what they’re going in. And how they’re doing. Eddie O’Donnell and he crashed. One of the mechanics was thrown out of the racetrack. The color panel shows this. And the reason this color panel was drawn was because Gaston Chevrolet actually believed he called his brother Louis and told him I, I’m going to die here.

And Lewis said, no, you’ve been successful at that track. You’re going to retire, race one more race. You’re going to be the national champion. That was it. Here is the national story that went out about this. It’s very graphic, very graphic, but that was 1920s writing. Here is a picture of Eddie Rickenbacker.

Notice the football helmet. That’s a picture taken in 1914. He was maybe the first to wear head protection other than the flight helmets that they wore because they had nothing else. Helmet, goggles, and gloves. That was all the protection they had. Here, unfortunately, a list of the people who were killed in board track racing.

It was a different time. These were different people. Factors that influenced the board track. The automobile industry, as we [01:08:00] talked about it, was developing the car, the high speed. Major business people, Firestone family invested in board tracks. The Ford family invested in board tracks. Thomas Edison invested in a board track.

So did Louis B. Mayer because the Culver City track is built right up against the back lot of the MGM studio. Automobile race in a major sport communities wanted to have it increased the value of the community and get people to help the economy. And these people were major racers. What caused the demise?

It cost a lot to maintain something that wasn’t protected by anything for the weather, plus the recertification that may cost a hundred thousand dollars to put new wood down when they needed it. Lack of competition. Louis Meyer told me the fastest car always won because it was just speed. There was no way for a slower car to, uh, get around a faster car, weather damage, dwindling attendance, because people Oh, okay.

Yeah, we saw that. It’s not continuing to be. And then, of course, the Great Depression. [01:09:00] Here’s a postcard of the Charlotte Speedway. Interestingly, they had two or three stock car races there that didn’t draw any attention at all. Now you go to Charlotte, that’s all they have. After the board tracks, there was nothing till the Nutley Velodrome and some other places raced midgets on these tracks.

You couldn’t get a championship car on that. They were too small. Seventh of a mile, you have four or five championship cars on there. They’d be nose to tail. But the velodrome ran for a couple of years, very successful. But also they had three fatalities. The New York newspapers just were out against this kind of thing.

That’s Tommy Heinrich. It’s leading this group of people. You figure seventh mile track. They’re going around seven, eight seconds, 70 miles an hour. That’s really doing something. And that’s Henry Banks who became a director of competition in Chicago. They built a board track for one use. Cost 25, 000 then, almost a half a million today.

This was for the world championship at 90, 000 people see this race. And it was for one race. This was at the polo [01:10:00] grounds. This was a high bank board track. It was supposed to be run for several weeks, but every time they had a race, it rained except for two times. And what they used to make this board track was a portable board track.

This was an article in 1948, Popular Mechanics, about this board track. Someone got the idea. We can have automobile racing all over the country, wherever you want it. Pop it down, have your race. The promoter was a millionaire sportsman. They had people who were involved, National Midget. The designers, Leon and Lionel Levy, were architects who developed horse racing tracks, boxing arenas in baseball and football stadiums, things like that.

All of this with a steel underpinning, it was like putting a big model kit together. You transported it from place to place. Cost 150, 000 then just for this. Million and a half today. But the transportation and the labor was extra. They ran it a couple times in the polo grounds, then it was shipped out to the Rose Bowl.

[01:11:00] Rose Bowl and Los Angeles had board track midget racing. Problem was the tracks were too narrow. No activity, no action, because they had had dirt midget racing at these two venues. They tried this to think it would be better. It wasn’t. That was sort of the end of board track racing. And I’ll end with this.

Here are two interesting books. Both are still available. Although they’re not new books, they’re used books or something like that. Although the Wall Smacker, which is Peter DiPaolo’s autobiography, you can get in an e book, tells all about the board track era. That Guts and Glory that Dick Wallin produced in 1990, I wrote two chapters in that book.

I would have written it differently today than I did then. Because of the internet, you can find out so much more information than going to the libraries like I did. Plus, there are other books. Griff Borgeson has the book about the golden era of auto racing in the 1920s. And Mark Dees excellent book on the Millers.

These give you some insight into board track racing. [01:12:00] Ladies and gentlemen, I, I hope I’ve piqued your interest anyway. And, uh, I’m just proud to be able to address this group. And board track racing is something that, uh, Happened a long time ago, but it’s a major part of American history and I hope you enjoyed it.

Thank you.

This episode is brought to you in part by the International Motor Racing Research Center. Its charter is to collect, share, and preserve the history of motors, sports spanning continents, eras, and race series. The Center’s collection embodies the speed, drama and camaraderie of amateur and professional motor racing throughout the world.

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[00:00:00] BreakFix’s History of Motorsports series is brought to you in part by the International Motor Racing Research Center, as well as the Society of Automotive Historians, the Watkins Glen Area Chamber of Commerce, and the Argettsinger family. Well, my name is Kip Snyder. For those who may not know, I’m the Visitor Services Outreach Coordinator for the International Motor Racing Research Center.

And I want to welcome you all here. Thank you for taking a little time out of your afternoon to come visit us. As we talk about open wheel madness, before we get going, I have several people I need to thank on this. First of all, and foremost of all, our two speakers, Mr. Herb and a store and Steven Bob, when we were considering.

Putting this program together, I emailed Lenny Sammons from Area Auto Racing News and asked him what we were projecting to do and who might I get that would be experts in their field and, and Mr. Sammons immediately suggested Herb and Steve. We are very happy and very honored to have them here today. I am personally fascinated at both of the things they’re going to talk about.

Stephen’s going to [00:01:00] talk about sprint car and open wheel racing in the 20s and 30s and some guy named Al Capone. And what he had to do with racing. And that was the hook that got me psyched on his talk as well. So I certainly want to thank both Herb and Stephen for coming here. Yes. Thank you again. Uh, we’ve certainly enjoyed our presentation and I’m looking forward to what Stephen has to say.

First off, it’s going to be really tough to come up after Herb. That was excellent. My name’s, uh, Stephen Bubb and it was really great to get back up in this area. My high school years, I lived across the state line in Tawanda. I worked for a gentleman who owned a number of tree farms, including one in Dundee, New York.

So I’d have to come up here and spend some time in Dundee working at his, uh, tree farm. Unfortunate thing was on Fridays, I’d have to go home. So I have to go right past Dundee Speedway as the race cars were going in. Always tough to do, being a real true racing fan. Little background, I am from the Harrisburg area.

I live Right across the river from Harrisburg. Have a fortunate spot because we’re right in the middle of a racing hotbed down there. From my [00:02:00] house, the wind’s blowing right. You can hear Williams Grove Speedway running. You can hear Susquehanna, which is now BAP Speedway. You can hear that track running.

I am the, uh, librarian at the Eastern Museum of Motor Racing. I’ve been retired from work for about a year. I worked in Pennsylvania House of Representatives on staff, and that is why I don’t have any hair. Because if you work with politicians for 30 years, you lose a lot of hair. And I am really glad I got retired.

Did a lot of things in motorsports. I was a corner flagman. Assistant Flagman. I’ve worked on pit crews, done scoring, been a head scorer, been a publicity director at Williams Grove Speedway for a while when they had the Saturday Night Series. I’ve been very involved in racing, working with the Eastern Museum of Motor Racing as a librarian, which has just been absolutely fascinating.

Any museum, like the museum you have here, is a treasure. I hope everybody appreciates what you have here. Each museum, they’re priceless, and what we’re doing to save racing history, [00:03:00] we have to do it, because so much racing history is being lost every single day, and we have to preserve every little bit of it.

So, I’m gonna be talking about 1920s and 1930s racing. The United States entered the 1920s, having just come out of World War I. 1920s, The American public was hungry for entertainment. Leading the way in summer sports was naturally baseball. Also attracting plenty of the public’s attention was automobile racing.

Automobile competition was going through its growing pains as it ended the 1920s. Tracks were plentiful as horse tracks dotted the countryside. As 1920s racing began, there were two basic forms of dirt track competition. There were the stock cars, the road cars of the day. The second form was the engineered machines constructed for the speedway.

Now this is Speed Gardner’s car. This was from the 1920s, I believe it was 1928 that this photo. The second form is of interest. Today we call them sprint cars. A look at the history of the sprint [00:04:00] car shows the name came about late 1950s, 1960. Prior to that time, they were known as big cars. This leads to an interesting discussion that was recently occurred.

Racing historians go with what I term the Chris Economacky rule. Economacky, the dean of motorsports, said the term big car came with the arrival of midget racing. When midgets burst upon the scene in 1934 and 1935, promoters began referring to the other racing cars This was shown to be true in advertising from the mid 1930s.

Racetrack promoters would often state in their advertisements that they were having races featuring big cars, not midgets. So what were the big cars prior to the arrival of midgets? Often newspapers just announced automobile races with no distinction between stock car and manufactured racing machines.

One term I found used in newspapers, and the term I use, is speedsters. Another term I noticed was light [00:05:00] cars. There is one problem. In 1920s newspapers, mainly in Philadelphia and Altoona, I found where they referenced the cars as big cars. This creates an issue with the Chrisikali Maki rule. I brought up the concern with noted racing historian Tom Schmee.

It left both of us puzzled, and for those of you that know Tom Schmee, uh, tell him I said don’t get a big head because I mentioned him today. Tom’s a good friend of mine. I decided to look into 1920s usage of big cars, and I came up with two theories. The first is engine size. At some of the races during the 1920s, they split the cars by engine size.

They had a class for cars using engines 450 cubic inches and less. There was a second class using engines 320 cubic inches or less. Big car may refer to the cars using the larger engines. A second theory deals with a traveling racing group. In the 1920s, there was a traveling racing group that staged exhibition races.

They featured cars called [00:06:00] tiny cars. I was fascinated about this form of racing and located a newspaper photograph of a tiny car. They were the forerunner of the midget. They’re about the same size as a midget. This car has headlights on it. But it is basically about the same size and they used an outboard engine like the early midgets used.

Shanley Park, we have discovered, was the first track in Pennsylvania to hold a automobile race. We first thought it was in Philadelphia in 1899 and I was doing some research on 1899 motorcycle racing and I found results and it said the winner won a July 4th, 1899 motorcycle race. At Shenley Park, and I thought, we have no history of that.

So I immediately dug into Pittsburgh newspapers and sure enough, there was an automobile race July 4th, 1899 at Shenley Park in Pittsburgh. That track is still there, it’s now a running track. So Shenley Park was actually the first track in Pennsylvania. to hold an [00:07:00] automobile race. After discovering the tiny car group, the term big car was possibly used to separate the two forms of cars.

For this discussion, I will use the term speedsters. We have speedsters becoming big cars, and big cars eventually becoming a sprint car. As racing entered the 1920s, competition was mainly on horse tracks. There were a few raceways built exclusively for automobile racing, However, the overwhelming number of races were on fairground horse tracks.

I do want to point out an interesting aspect to racing research. My history research hero is Joanne Freeman. Ms. Freeman is one of our country’s leading historic researchers. Through studying Ms. Freeman’s research, I learned that too often we get locked into the well traveled path. To find missing history nuggets, one must veer off the well lit well traveled path and instead venture into history’s dark, unlit alleys.

By rooting through history’s sometime unkept past, the gems that were missed come to life. Using this [00:08:00] line of thought, I went to work on the existence of 1920 racing facilities. Almost every county had a fairground horse track, and automobile races were prevalent at these facilities. What too many researchers miss are the small town horse tracks.

At the time, many small towns still had some type of fairground. By digging into small town newspapers, suddenly long lost automobile races came to life at these small town tracks. Racing was going strong in the 1920s, and stronger than many knew. The small town horse tracks hosted horse racing events. To increase attendance at their horse races, the small town ovals were adding automobile and motorcycle races.

AAA was the main sanctioning body of the time. To have a AAA sanction on your race was a badge of honor. At first, AAA only sanctioned races on tracks a mile or larger. I found an article where a Western Pennsylvania track was able to track AAA. Their horse track was a half mile in size. When they filled out the [00:09:00] paperwork for AAA, they listed the track as a mile.

The AAA officials were unaware of the discrepancy until they arrived the day of the race. They allowed the race to be held with the AAA sanction, but following the event, They permanently banned the track from staging another AAA race. In the 1920s, AAA was the leading sanctioning body. They did have some competition.

The International Motor Contest Association was one of their leading competitors. The American Automobile Racing Corporation was a strong group. AAA and the American Automobile Racing Corporation co sanctioned races at the Allentown Fairground. Another group trying to make some ground in the racing business was the International Automobile Racing Association.

There were smaller racing groups such as the National Motor Racing Association and the Tri State Racing Association. The racing situation at the time was much the same as our present time. If AAA sanctioned the event, usually a handful of AAA stars would participate in the race. The remainder of the racing [00:10:00] field was filled out by local stars.

It was a situation that could be compared to our present day World of Outlaws or All Star Circuit. They bring in some of the star drivers and the remainder of the field will be local competitors. One star driver every track was hoping to draw was Ralph De Palma. De Palma won the 1915 Indianapolis 500.

During his career, at some point he held every speed record from a half mile to the Indianapolis track. This taking place on track surfaces from dirt, board, and brick. In an interview from the 1920s, DePalma talked about his views on racing. Automobile racing is the cleanest and fairest of all, said DePalma.

Lots of people out there believe that every race is fixed before it starts. That every accident is planned by the poor drivers just to give the fans a thrill. They are wrong. Every man who competes in automobile races believes that he is the best in the world. Give a driver a large crowd for whom he can perform and he will fairly eat up the track.

[00:11:00] Hitting the curves with the gas feed down. Roaring on the straight stretches like a demon. The drivers are just too busy trying to reach the top to be bothered by dirty and unfair topics. Then two prizes to automobile racers are exceedingly small. Good dirt track drivers make a living, but not much more.

Ralph De Palma in the interview had an interesting take on racing accidents. He believed that having three crashes was almost like having a good luck charm. Every driver suffers three mishaps, DePalma explained. It’s part of the game’s tradition. I’ve had my three crackups and have been laid up in the hospital for as long as seven weeks at a time.

I’m not due for more than that sort of thing. Three and that’s all. You think it’s funny? Well, we’re all glad when the third smash up has been passed. The third one puts a rabbit foot or some other lucky piece in your car for keeps. So that’s an interesting take. He believed that three crashes and you were lucky then.

Not going to have any other serious wrecks. Ralph De Palma toured the country towing his racing machine. [00:12:00] Starting in 1924, he began competing in a Miller Special. The Michigan driver had Wesley Crawford and Reeve Stanley serving as mechanics. De Palma’s engine used a supercharger of his own design.

DePalma said his engine had a price tag of 10, 500. That price tag should raise plenty of eyebrows. When computed to inflation, Ralph DePalma’s engine today would cost 158, 262. You could buy a lot of 410 engines today for that amount of money. There were other drivers that were touring the nation. Speed Gardner, who we saw in the earlier photo.

Ira Vail, IP and Nat Federman. Zeke Myers, Jimmy Gleason, Russell Snowberger. Frank Lockhart, Wilbur Shaw, Ernie Triplett are names of drivers that were out on the road. When they arrived at the local track, sometimes there would be stiff competition from the local talent. One such driver was named A. B. Litz, or better known as Deacon Litz.

Deacon Litz was from Du Bois, Pennsylvania, and ran a tavern known as [00:13:00] the Quiet Woman. There’s an interesting story on it, but I won’t go into it. Don’t go into it because it would be called sexist as to why he named it The Quiet Woman. Had something to do with his wife. The local paper referred to Litz as a consistent, non spectacular speed artist at Du Bois.

I don’t know if I want to be known as non spectacular, but that’s what he was called. Litz in his early days built his own cars and towed to the regional tracks to compete against the national stars. Litz was defeating the big names and he began to accept better rides. Litz eventually went from local driver to national driver.

He competed in 12 Indianapolis 500s. A press release from an October 8, 1927 speedster race at the Bloomsburg Fairground highlighted Deacon Litz. On a day when the grandstands were sold out and people were sitting in the aisles, the racing commenced with an invitational race. Deacon Litz defeated the Field of Seven in a 10 lap race.

Then his day hit a major issue. Deacon Litz, read the press release, owner of a 20, [00:14:00] 000 Miller Special, while in time trials, suffered heavy damage to his machine when a piston broke and plunged through the engine block. Automobile men estimated the damage at several thousand dollars. Litz previously had won the Five Mile Invitational event, and there was every indication he would lead the field in every race in which he participated.

Did you take notice in the price of his race car? A 20, 000 race car at that time was a top line machine. When adjusted for inflation today, that race car would be worth 285, 262. That’s for a dirt track car. An interesting side story on Deacon Litz. When Prohibition hit, Litz was arrested for violating the Prohibition laws.

His sentence was to come in May, the same month as the Indianapolis 500. Litz made a deal whereby he pled guilty to violating the prohibition laws. Judge A. R. Chase sentenced Litz to three months in county jail along with a fine of 400. As part of the deal, the judge suspended [00:15:00] the sentence until December after all racing was completed.

Litz cut a real nice deal. Another driver that would take the money from the National Stars was named Lafayette Stallman, better known as Leif Stallman. Stallman competed at tracks that were outside the AAA sanction. AAA had a ban on their drivers competing on tracks outside AAA’s sanction. Some of the drivers did race at non sanctioned events.

Using an alias, which sometimes makes it difficult for racing historians, some of the star AAA competitors raced in the outlaw races. The Brookville, Pennsylvania driver traveled around to several states and was quite successful competing in his 16 valve Dodge. In 1924, he made the decision to retire from racing.

In the Jefferson Democrat newspaper, Leif Stallman placed an advertisement listing his race car for sale. The advertisement read, For sale. Racing car. Elegant condition. Equipped with the best racing equipment money can buy. Has record for half mile track of 29 seconds. Has record [00:16:00] for mile track of 52 seconds.

Is light and fast. Will sell to the right quick buyer. Reason for selling, am in business and cannot follow it up. Another probable reason for his 1924 retirement came on August 9, 1924. He was leading a race when a lapped car crowded him into the fencing. His Dodge struck the fence and a 12 year old boy that was sitting on the fencing, instantly killing the child.

Stallman’s car went down an embankment and landed on a sand pile. Stallman had several broken ribs, severe cuts, and a wrenched back. Stallman’s retirement was short, though. He built a new car called a Frontenac Buick. He took a Frontenac and a Buick, combining parts from both machines. Stallman constructed a new, quick car.

Stallman became an outlaw driver long before the term outlaws became popular. He sought out high paying races around the Middle Atlantic region. In 1926, the new Kensington Half Mile track, located north of Pittsburgh, opened. [00:17:00] The track, called the Million Dollar Speedway, due to the cost of building the raceway, opened with a non sanctioned automobile race.

To attract attention, plus drivers and racing fans, The raceways of Management decide to pay $1,000 to the winner today. Many tracks pay $1,000 to the winner. That money brought La Stallman. Stallman won the race, taking the long route, noticing the track was rough on the bottom. Each lap Stallman was against the outside rail.

Stallman estimated he probably ran an extra quarter mile each circuit of the 200 lap race. Stillman’s Outlaw style caught up to him. In 1926, AA began to move into the tracks that dotted the Western section of Pennsylvania. AAA made an ultimatum. You have to join AA if you wanna compete in our races. If you join aa, you can no longer race at tracks not sanctioned by aaa.

On July 24th, 1926, Stallman won AAA sanctioned race. At the Dubois fairground. A week later, he was competing [00:18:00] in a race not sanctioned by Triple A. Triple A’s action was quick. On August 4, Triple A announced Leif Stallman was disqualified from the Dubois win because the July 31 race was a contest neither sanctioned nor supervised by the contest board.

Triple A also announced Stallman was permanently barred from any further AAA contest. Stallman’s excursion into non sanctioned field was a particularly flagrant violation of regulations, the AAA board statement said, coming as it did only a few days after the bars had been let down at his most urgent appeal to be permitted to enter sanctioned racing.

When the tracks at Butler, Pennsylvania and Lawn City, Pennsylvania entered racing last May, all Western Pennsylvania drivers were given an opportunity to join. Stallman was not among those who took advantage of the offer, and later, when he asked to come in, he was refused. He pleaded, however, that he had not been offered the opportunity to enter in May.

For that reason, he was admitted on [00:19:00] July 23, the day before the Dubois race, upon the express stipulation that should he ever backslide, he would be permanently out. Yet in the face of that agreement, he refused. He raced outside the following week. Neither this board nor the triple a has any quarrel with any promoters, car owners, and drivers outside its sanction, but it does have a standard, which is not often equal.

It desires that this standard shall be set an example that nothing shall dim its present and well defined leadership that the attempt it has made to make racing clean and Gert was safety shall not be undermined. Unless AAA drivers live up to these standards, they cannot be maintained, and no driver can live up to them by racing today on a track sanctioned by AAA and tomorrow on one that does not qualify.

Did that deter Stallman? Not in the least. He continued his outlaw style, working around AAA sanctioned tracks. Continued racing into the early 1930s. The ban by AAA [00:20:00] did keep him from making the big next step up the racing ladder. There is one driver from this era that time has forgotten, but he deserves his place in automobile racing fame.

His name is Andy Crumshaw. Andy Crumshaw was not a known feature winner, but he was a fascinating story of racing determination. Crumshaw was from Alliance, Ohio. Due to an issue at birth, Crumshaw lost both of his legs at the hip. He also had part of his right arm amputated. Despite the inflictions, Crumshaw went after life with a gusto.

Andy Crumshaw was well known in Alliance. He owned and operated the largest newsstand and retail business on the east end of town. Crumshaw never considered himself crippled. One of his great projects was building a car of his own design. Taking several different cars, Crumshaw constructed a luxury car, one that he drove across the country and across southern Canada.

Crumshaw loved racing. He took a Frontenac and rebuilt it. He would steer the car with his left arm. Crumshaw made an extension he placed on his right arm. [00:21:00] Using that extension, he could operate the gas and the brake. Andy Crumshaw toured around the country, although the majority of his racing was from Ohio and East.

Many of the tracks would advertise his upcoming races, stating the invalid driver would be competing. Andy Crumshaw was anything but an invalid. He was a competitive racer. And often finished in the top five. He won a feature at the Evensburg Fairground. One fascinating thing I find about this is his mechanic has an arm and a sling.

And I take it that somewhere along the line the two of them had quite an adventure. Crumshaw’s racing did hit a major obstacle in 1927. While racing at Lisbon, Ohio, the leader suddenly slowed and Crumshaw’s car made heavy contact. Andy Crumshaw was transported to the hospital and received the bad news.

He had broken his left arm, the good arm, placing him on the sidelines for a while. Just before I came up here, I did find another story on Andy. He has apparently a good sense of humor because When he broke that arm, he came back to the track while the races were still going on, went over to [00:22:00] the judges stand, held up the arm in the sling and said, look, it’s the good arm.

So apparently he had a very good sense of humor. Racing popularity was strong. This is a young driver just making his start and it’s a driver that anybody that follows racing will know. This is Lenny Duncan, and this is at Deer Park, New York. We think this is probably about 1925, 1926, somewhere in there.

We received at Eastern Museum many of Lenny’s photos, and this was at the bottom of the box. And one day I was rooting through, and I thought, Oh, this is, this is absolutely tremendous. That’s an amazing photo. In going through newspaper accounts of races, both AAA and non sanctioned, the announced crowds were amazing.

Often the attendance at half mile races would be around 20, 000, sometimes grating. Racing was profitable, and this money brought the seedier underside into the sport. There were reports of promoters taking the money and running. The sport also attracted the attention of organized crime. I found two interesting stories about organized [00:23:00] crime in the 1920s.

The first came in 1922. It’s actually not a dirt track. This is the Uniontown Speedway. It was one of the leading raceways in the country. The criminal element saw an opportunity and began sending individuals into the track to open a betting line. A lot of money was exchanging hands as bets were being placed not only on the outcome of the race, but on other elements of the event.

In 1922, the tracks management learned of the activity and alerted the police. The Speedways Management issued a press release stating that no gambling will be allowed inside the track’s gates. The press release read, A number of sportily inclined gentlemen have been attempting to make books on the big event, and it is to block the plans of these men.

Anyone detected making a bet at the track on Saturday will be ejected without ceremony. There will be a number of police officers in plainclothes stationed throughout the grandstand and infield on Saturday with orders to place anyone under arrest who violates the rules of this respect. The Uniontown newspaper decided to investigate the betting [00:24:00] situation.

While the Uniontown Speedway management could control the betting inside the track’s gates, they had no control outside the raceway. The newspaper found bookies had set up betting. Some of the wagers were what the newspaper called a freakish nature. Some of the wagers discovered by the paper included odds of 2 to 1 that an accident will occur on Death Curve, where several spills took place.

There was even money that none of the cars would change a front tire. Due to one was offered that none of the drivers will go the entire 225 miles without a stop. There was even money that 1, 000 automobiles will be parked inside the speedway. I wonder who had the chore of going in and counting 1, 000 automobiles inside the speedway.

There was 3 to 1 that rain will not interfere with the event, and 4 to 1 that no one will be killed during the race. It was 6 to 1 that the winner will not lead all the laps, and even money that engine trouble will put at least two cars out of the race. Other strange wagers were, the winning car will have an odd number, [00:25:00] and another bet was on whether the feature winner will be a married man.

Racing caught the interest of one of crime’s most notable individuals. Mr. Al Capone became involved in stage what might be one of our sport’s greatest races. From 1920 through 1933, prohibition was in full force. Al Capone and some of his criminal element were gaining large amounts of money by supplying bootleg alcohol.

Capone needed some way to hide and move money. One way was through automobile racing. After Capone was sentenced and on his way to prison, Johnny Black, the former personal and publicity director for driver Barney Oldfield came forward about Capone and racing. In a newspaper interview, Black talked about Capone and his bootleg buddies using racing.

Al Capone was as strewed in racing as he was in business. To hide some of the money he was making through bootleg alcohol, Capone began to purchase race cars. He bought good cars, often ones that raced at Indianapolis and other big speedways. He made the [00:26:00] purchases through a third party. Keeping his name out of the deal.

The same was true when hiring drivers. It was handled through a third party. The drivers would learn of the car’s real owner after the competitors made the final agreement to drive the car. Capone’s dealing and racing caught the attention of other operators in the criminal world. Al Capone and some of his principal lieutenants suggested a way to settle differences between factions.

Tiring of using tommy guns to settle differences, they suggested staging an automobile race. When the big Chicago 10 mile race was announced, Johnny Black said, the gangsters entered them under assumed names. They then commenced to select the drivers. The mob heads wanted the best. They were willing to pay the price.

They got the best pilots money can buy. Exactly 45 kingpins of speed swayed by money and orders of the bootleg kings were on hand to qualify. On race day, there were 45 cars and drivers, all owned by some member of organized crime. A few minutes before the race, [00:27:00] the field increased to 47. Drivers Bill Chittum and William Wolfe heard about the race and decided to enter.

They did so not knowing the circumstance of the race. The race organizers were quite willing to take their entry money. One problem occurred prior to the race. The race starter, the head flagman, Apparently being tipped off, took flight and sought safety. Johnny Black had flagging experience and accepted the position.

There were 47 cars on hand, only 18 were going to make the starting field. Johnny Black said that, tersely told that they must earn their stipends from their bootlegger bosses, And that if they laid down and lived after the race, they might look forward to a ride after it. In this atmosphere of death, the pilots threw everything they and their cars had into the speed activities.

To the speed kings, it looked as if the old Grim Reaper was handling the flags himself that day, with a fateful fate in prospect for the racing pilots, if they did not win, and a potential death facing them if they did. Narrowing the 47 cars down to 18 [00:28:00] presented some of the most intense racing ever witnessed.

By the end of qualifying, the drivers had smashed the smithereens more than 1, 000 feet of fencing. Drivers went through holes in the fencing made earlier by other drivers. William Wolfe, the outsider that entered the race at the last second, could not believe what he was watching. Unaware of the situation, Wolf commented in an interview about the almost insane racing he was incurring.

If you took your foot off the accelerator for a second, Wolf said, not one, but about a dozen cars flashed by you. And those boys were driving. I want to tell you, they were maniacs. I did not understand until afterwards. The best made plans by the gangsters failed on this day. The two outsiders, Wolf and Chittum, finished first and second in the feature.

Bill Chittum won, and William Wolf a close second. Upon reporting to the pits, Chittum and Wolf were informed of the race’s circumstances. Two quickly gathered their winnings and made a hasty exit of the track. They were not the only ones to make a quick exit of the track. Following the race, flagman Johnny [00:29:00] Black received the same information.

When I learned after the race that the racketeers had taken this way to settle their disputes instead of with machine guns and fear for lest I might be blamed for the loss of their cars later, I did not waste much time in Chicago, Black said. The sport of automobile racing had a strong and healthy run through the 1920s.

As it entered the 1930s, I noticed something odd. I developed a spreadsheet that I could document Pennsylvania’s races from the first one in 1899 to the present. As I looked over the spreadsheet, I noticed a drop in races. From 1930 through 1934. At first I thought maybe I did less research on the time frame.

I went back and did research on the races through the years and noticed there was indeed a drop in the races. Then the historian kicked in. The Great Depression. It began in late 1929 and went through much of the 1930s. The 1930s are one of the more fascinating decades in racing. There was a depression in what it did to the sport.

Racing received a new breath of life when midget racing swept the sport in the mid [00:30:00] 1930s. But then there was the dark side. Racing became a deadly sport during this era to the point I often call the decade the bloody 1930s. First, the Great Depression. It did have an effect on racing. The number of races dropped.

There were fewer races held at the small town fairground ovals. The majority of races were at the established fairground tracks, usually a city track or a county fairground. Although the number of races dropped, the crowds did not. The newspaper accounts continued to report large crowds. Look at baseball attendance during the same time frame.

The stronger baseball teams were reporting record crowds while the smaller baseball clubs were struggling. Although money was tight, people still wanted to be entertained. I did notice one trend with racing events. There were mentions about the number of people watching the races for free. People were finding hillsides, trees, anything they could use outside to track rounds to see the races.

A race at Arden’s Downs is a great example of the hard times. The article mentioned that 27 people were arrested trying to crash the gate at the track. The [00:31:00] 27 were taken to Justice of the Peace James Stouffer on charges of trespassing. All 27 were fined 1 plus costs. Showing how hard it was at the time, 25 of the 27 Cannot afford the 1 plus costs and were committed to the county jail.

A day later, family members paid the fines and all but one were released. Times were hard for people and times were about to become hard for racing. There was a problem brewing and by the middle of the 1930s, it had become a serious issue. When racing began, the horse tracks were fine for automobile racing.

As racing entered the 1930s, the cars were becoming much quicker. As racing went through the decade of the 1930s, racing was outgrowing the horse tracks. The fairground horse tracks had safety features that were fine for horses, not for automobiles. The single board wood fence could not contain the speedy cars.

The fairground complex allowed fans to watch races from almost every inch around the track. The lack of fencing and the spread out spectators led to deadly results. [00:32:00] Frankly, and I have to really say this, there are times I wonder how racing ever survived the 1930s. Week after week, there were newspaper reports of drivers losing their lives.

There were numerous reports of fans being killed when cars went through fencing. One of racing’s greatest stars, by 1933, became one of its more outspoken opponents. Barney Oldfield, A member of AAA’s contest board suddenly could no longer see a future for the sport, mostly due to the carnage. The San Francisco Examiner newspaper was the perfect place for Oldfield to make a statement about automobile competition.

The Examiner was a quite anti automobile racing paper during the 1930s. Automobile racing has outlived its usefulness, Oldfield said in his interview. It has ceased to be racing and has become merely a morbid and brutal spectacle. The science of speed has reached a point where any manufacturer can produce a car which will satisfy any sane buyer.

Few of your average automobile race fans know or care anything about the finer points of the [00:33:00] cars of the racers. They watch without interest the most skillful and delicate driver, but let a tire burst, a wheel skid, a car break for the fence, and they are out of their seats in a flash. A soft spot on the track, a piece of broken metal, a speck of dirt in an oil feed.

These things and not engines, experience, or skill are the things which win automobile races now. Racing cars are now too fast for the tracks, and I doubt safe tracks can ever be constructed, especially with the demand for more speed and more hazards. As for the proposal to require promoters to post bonds to provide for the dependence of those killed or permanently injured, Henry Ford took out insurance on every driver and mechanic as a personal gift to them.

I quit racing for two reasons. First, there is no money or future in it for the driver. Second, because of the ever increasing dangers with the demand of speed and more speed and more risks. I knew I would get mine someday if I continued on, and I doubt if any kind of examination can ensure that the [00:34:00] drivers in a race are physically or mentally fit to enter.

Why, Tommy Milton, one of the greatest of racers, drove for years and he was blind in one eye. Bill Denver, who raced at Indianapolis, had an arm he couldn’t even bend. If there must be automobile racing, I favor a return to strictly stock car racing and the elimination of specially built racers constructed for speed alone.

These frail, highly powered cars built for racing are a danger to the driver and themselves. When there is a crash, they crumble like tin. Although the government, for the most part, remained out of racing, some local government stepped in to increase safety. In August of 1937, the government of South Bend, Indiana decided to pass a bill regarding the safety at the Playland Park racetrack.

The editorial staff of the South Bend Tribune supported the bill. The members of the city council have shown sound judgment in making a bill to protect spectators when automobile races are held at Playland Park, the editorial read. The new ordinance requires that a promoter of such races must pay a [00:35:00] license fee of 100, be insured to the amount of 5, 000 a person, and 100, 000 in accident.

The insurance must be with a company listed at no less than a million dollars, and that a retaining wall must be erected to protect spectators. This ordinance will be regarded by automobile race promoters as exceedingly severe, but it will be endorsed by spectators and thoughtful persons who have the good sense to appreciate why it was created.

Thank you. There was one major safety issue, and that was dust. In researching racing during the 1930s, so many articles mentioned the dust. Dirt horse tracks, paired with the increasing power and speed of the cars, brought billowing, blinding dust. The dust dramatically increased the danger factor of automobile races.

I found two interesting stories that highlight the dust dilemma. The first was at the Bloomsburg Fairground. The main event began at the Bloomsburg Fairground and immediately dust rose from the racing action. In the early laps, a car crashed into the fencing entering the third turn. The impact [00:36:00] sent the driver hurtling out of the car, his body landing on the track.

The accident occurred in front of the ambulance crew. With the heavy dust, the race officials were unaware a crash occurred in the third turn. The ambulance crew bravely went over the fence and pulled the injured driver from the track. They placed him in the ambulance and quickly left for the hospital.

When the driver arrived at the hospital, the hospital staff wanted more information on their patient. They called the track asking for information on the driver injured during the race. Track officials, still unaware a crash occurred, told the hospital staff person there must be some mistake, no one was injured during the race.

The staff person replied, we have a driver here, he is injured, he was injured at your track. The track official replied, they were mistaken and hung up. After the race was completed, the dust dissipated, and to the surprise of the track officials, there was a wrecked car against the third turn fence. The second story comes from the Monongahela City track.

Their big race was well underway. During the race, two cars crashed exiting the second turn. With what [00:37:00] was described as blinding dust, other cars crashed into the accident scene. The head flagman, not able to see much at all due to the dust, was unaware of the wreck. The accident continued to grow as more cars became involved.

The head flagman became aware of the fact that there were less and less cars coming by the starting line, so he signaled for a stoppage to the race. This worked for everyone except the leader. The driver in the lead car refused to stop, fearing he could possibly be passed. He continued circling the track despite frantic efforts to halt him.

Finally, a Pennsylvania State Policeman had enough. The officer walked out onto the track and drew his pistol. He stood waiting, and as soon as the leader appeared out of the dust, the officer took aim at the radiator. The car’s driver, suddenly spotting an officer aiming a gun at his car, quickly brought his machine to a halt.

The sad part of the story is a driver did die in the crash. The majority of the field was eliminated in the wreck, most not being able to see due to the dust. Racetrack owners and promoters were experimenting with calcium as a way to control the [00:38:00] dust. Adding crude oil to the surface was another way to hamper the dust.

Earlier I mentioned the New Kensington track. There’s a popular story told about an inventive way they handled their dust issue. The track was located close to a paint factory. The story told is that the promoter went to the paint factory and purchased their unused and unwanted paint. He then applied the paint to the track surface for a midget race.

The paint was not popular with the drivers. It did hinder the dust, but it also adhered to the cars and the drivers. One driver actually said his car changed colors during the race. He had a dark colored car and it was silver when he came out of the race. For a racing historian, parts of the 1930s were not fun to research.

The crashes were brutal and the newspaper writers described them with a flair not found today. Herb mentioned that about the one rider. Back then, writers really described the crashes. I was researching a July 4th, 1936 race at Jenner’s Speedway that had a double fatality. The writer from a small town newspaper described the [00:39:00] accident with such detail that it was absolutely, I guess the best word would be, horrific.

That is when I began to wonder how racing survived the 1930s. When you read Chris Economacky’s tremendous book, Let Them All Go, and if you haven’t read it, Definitely read it. You begin to understand the decade and the racing. Death was accepted as a risk with the sport. As Khan and Mackey pointed out, if a driver perished in a crash, they cleared the accident scene and went back to racing.

This occurred with the Jenner’s crash. As horrendous as the crash was, they cleared the incident and went right back to racing. AAA continued to be the leader of race sanctioning. AAA took a firm control of any rough riding during their events. They started to crack down because of the accidents. This is the actual AAA transcripts that we have at the Eastern Museum.

And this is an incident that occurred on November 11th, 1934 at Ascot Speedway in Los Angeles. This is the original transcript, and it’s quite long. Floyd Roberts and Kelly Petillo were fighting for a lead on the last lap when Roberts was [00:40:00] accused of forcing Petillo off the track. The AAA hearing board held a hearing to decide if punishment was due.

That’s what this whole document is. This is the hearing. At the end of the hearing, the members were told the punishment that could be handed down if needed. The rules governing are contained in the rules book, page 101, section 293, particularly part C, which says foul driving either in a contest or practice shall be deemed a breach of these rules and shall be punished by exclusion from all events of the meeting and the offender may be fined or suspended for such time as the contest board may determine, read the document.

Penalties may be inflicted as follows fines, exclusions, suspensions, disqualifications. If you find Roberts guilty of this offense, you can recommend a fine, or you can bar him from any future races for a future length of time. You can recommend suspensions for a given length of time, or you can recommend disqualifications to the contest board.

If you find Roberts [00:41:00] guilty, you can exercise what might be in your judgment a just penalty. Or you can take the alternative and follow your recommendations with the board in order that the prize money be impounded. In other words, I see no other way if he is guilty where you can arbitrarily say he can be penalized from 1st to 32nd.

He won the races without penalty being inflicted during the course of the event. And we as a board have no power to rerun the race. If you feel he is not entitled to 1st place in this event, I think it would be proper then for you to refer the matter to the board. In the end, the board decided that Roberts committed no foul.

When you read this, it got quite heated during that board meeting. Although AAA was the leading sanctioning body, another organization was making a challenge. The Central States Racing Association, also called Consolidated States Racing Association, was taking aim at AAA. At the Eastern Museum of Motor Racing, we have the CSRA paperwork.

In reading the correspondence, CSRA was looking to take AAA [00:42:00] off its lofty position. CSRA began to move into AAA areas, and more tracks switched over to CSRA. Racing was still going through some growing pains. The early part of the 1930s found the majority of races still being held on horse tracks. By the second half of the decade, racing began moving away from the horse tracks to new raceways.

Some of these tracks had interesting stories. One was the Landisville Speedway. The Landisville Speedway was actually a football stadium for a semi pro football team. As automobile racing interest increased, the owner of the facility and the football team saw an opportunity. He decided to race the Speedsters around the football field during the football game intermissions.

Now fans could receive twice the entertainment for the money. A football game with an automobile race at intermission. The cars raced on a track built around the football field. His great plan hit a major snag one day. During the intermission race, one car veered off the track and crashed into the goalpost, sending the goalpost toppling to the ground.

For the second half, [00:43:00] all extra points and field goals had to be kicked on one end of the field. There were two saviors of the sport. The first was the realization of the need to build racing facilities exclusively for automobile racing. By the mid 1930s, the move away from the horse tracks began. The new tracks were constructed with banking in the turns, better suited for automobile speed.

The fencing was built at a height to better contain automobiles. One of the strongest improvements, the grandstand seating, was such that it contained the crowd in one area. No longer were spectators spread out around the track. Now fans could be confined to a grandstand along a straightaway. The sudden construction of new speedways led to an interesting situation in my home area.

In 1939, construction began on two speedways. Oddly enough, both were being built into amusement parks. The first was at an unincorporated area known as Hershey. The second was at a small railroad hamlet known as Williams Grove. Roy Richwine was leading the construction of the new Williams Grove track, while Milton Hershey, of Hershey [00:44:00] Chocolate fame, was heading up the Hershey project.

Many do not realize Milton Hershey was a racing enthusiast. Around 1920, he bought a large amount of land outside of the Hershey area. Milton Hershey bought it with a vision of constructing a large road racing course. That plan never came to life. Milton Hershey and Roy Richwine suddenly realized they had a problem.

Both of their new tracks were going to open the same week. The two agreed to have a meeting. At the end of the meeting, they came to agreement. The Hershey Speedway would open on Thursday and Williams Grove would open on Sunday. The second savior of the sport came, according to racing historian Crocky Wright, on June 4, 1933, at the Hughes Stadium in Sacramento, California.

On that day, a new form of racing came to life. Midget racing was born, and would soon be sweeping eastward. On June 10, 1934, promoter Bill Putnam staged the first Eastern midget race. This held at Olympic Park in Irvington, New Jersey. Malcolm McKenzie is listed as winning the first [00:45:00] Eastern midget race. As 1934 progressed, midget racing spread through New Jersey and New York.

At first, the cars were crude, but the sport attracted the attention of speedster stars. Soon, Bill Holmes, Bill Morrissey, Bill Schindler, Doc McKenzie, and a young driver known as Len Duncan were competing in the midgets. By 1935, the sport had grown enough that the East Midgets had their first driver’s group with the formation of the Eastern Auto Racing Association.

Soon, the Interstate Racing Association, the Keystone Racing Association, and the American Midget Racing Association were a part of the 1935 racing scene. Promoter Bill Heiserman introduced a new form of lining up the cars called handicapping, or reverse start. It met with resistance at first, but by the end of 1935, it became accepted.

Midget racing captured the fascination of the American public. The small racing machines could race in new forms of racing venues. The high school stadiums became a popular racing facility as the small machines [00:46:00] battled on the high school tracks. Stadiums of all types, be it football or baseball, were now new venues for the midgets.

The popularity of the midgets cannot be understated. Promoter Bill Heisman stated that he paid out 192, 018. 50 in midget purses in just 1934 and 1935. Using the inflation calculator today, that would be 3, 555, 078 for midget racing in two years. One driver had a quick jump on midget competition. Bill Betterman of Los Angeles, California became a quick start in midget competition.

Betteridge was a part of the earlier mentioned tiny car group. Betteridge was a 1934 West Coast midget champion. By 1934, the midgets had a number of venues around Los Angeles area. Tracks such as Moto Stadium, Gilmore Stadium, Loyola Stadium, Pershing Park, and Seaside Park were midget havens. of those tracks.

Only one remains. Seaside Park today is [00:47:00] Ventura Speedway. Gilmore Stadium is actually the CBS Studios in Los Angeles. A 1934 press release captured the popularity of West Coast midget racing and the popularity of driver Bill Betteridge. The number one topic on West Coast these days is the birth of the exciting sport of midget auto racing, which has been playing before banner crowds, stated the release.

Most of that excitement has been produced by a smiling young teenager named Billy Betteridge, who has just been proclaimed the 1934 West Coast Midget Champion. This clean cut Los Angeles youngster built a so called experimental midget back in 1932 and ran a few exhibitions with it. When Ken Brenneman and Hap Woodman decided to join forces and get others interested in the small cars, Billy Ridge was attracted to this group and it wasn’t long until he was in the thick of things.

Billy Ridge had fooled around with the Marine outboards for a couple of years and felt that the Kaley outboard engine would be suitable to mount in his homemade chassis. [00:48:00] Little did he realize the eventual success that was about to come his way Better Ridge was lauded by many who witnessed the little car in action.

Betteridge and his Kelly with a combination and after four promising outings in 1933 at Loyola Stadium, he came into his own during the past season. He racked up a phenomenal record of 30 midget wins and with eight straight at Gilmore Stadium and six out of eight starts at Moto Stadium in Long Beach.

Billy finds enough time out of a busy schedule to teach Sunday school class. It focuses on clean living, mentally and physically prepared, and will and determination to win. That’s what he has done. He’s just made to order for the mantle of a champion and displays the humility of one of racing’s finest personality.

Betteridge’s story comes to an unfortunate end. On June 8th, 1937, he was fatally injured. In a wreck on the opening lap of a feature at Atlantic Stadium, Billy Betteridge, a point champion at Moto Stadium and the National Midget Circuit of [00:49:00] California champion left an impression on West Coast fans as per this press release note.

The greatest tribute ever paid a driver, stated the release was given. Betteridge went 6000 fans to a man remained for over an hour, patiently waiting for an announcement as to his condition. When the announcement finally came, they were told that their beloved idol had passed on. They filed out in silence on the East Coast Midget Racing opened the sports door for many aspiring drivers.

One was Joe Pacino from Woodside, Long Island. He started his driving career with the Speedsters, but struggled. The Midgets offered a new opportunity and Bocchino took advantage of the new sport. Although not a known feature winner, Bocchino was on top of his game in qualifying, winning a number of heats and semifinals.

Joe Bocchino is still typical of quite a number of struggling young men in the sport of auto racing read a press release who have been following a dream. Joe’s early schooling goes back to 1934 when he broke in with the Garden State [00:50:00] Association in attempt to make it. He encountered the same problems as those who preceded him, the lack of good equipment.

But there was a ray of hope during the initial season that In which he placed in the top five in a race meet staged at Woodbridge, New Jersey. This was enough to keep him focused. He sat out the 35 season due to the lack of a decent ride. But in 1936, we find him taking part in 19 midget races, namely Bridgeport, Philadelphia, West Haven, and Freeport.

He tried his hand with a marine type power plant known as the Van Blurck, but has since shifted his attention to the Ford 60, which has proven to provide that necessary step to move his career along. Born and raised in Scranton, Pennsylvania, Joe now makes his home on Long Island, which puts him in close proximity with the tracks that make up the Heisman Circuit.

Midget racing became so popular, it was almost possible for a driver and race team to compete every night. This book, this was compiled by Carl Swigert, highlights the yearly racing of star drivers. And this is each [00:51:00] race that they did, and this whole book is different drivers. And it is every single race.

The first one is Billy Betteridge, who’s up here. The yellow on here is actually all of Billy’s feature wins. At the Eastern Museum of Motor Racing, we have a number of books by Carl Swigert and Joe Heisler. And it documents every single one of these midget stars, where they traveled, how they did, In qualifying and features and there’s an interesting aspect to this and that is travel.

We have to remember that this was prior to the freeways travel was not easy during this time race teams went great distances. It was not unusual to see a note of a driver competing in the Midwest on one night and a day or two later he was racing on the East Coast. There were no modern hotels, no fancy racing rigs, no chain restaurants, no fast food.

These competitors were true racers putting up with hardships of the road. And it is amazing when you look through here to see they race night after night. One night they could be in Pennsylvania, the next night in New England, the following night they could be in New Jersey. These guys really, really traveled.

[00:52:00] Midget Racing went through its growing pains. With the cars available to race at so many venues, There was going to be some problems, even a new facility as Hershey Stadium with a strong money backing and a strong sanctioning body and C. S. R. A. Had issues the day following the opening midget race at Hershey.

Jack Conlon, the sports editor of the Harrisburg Patriot News, had an interesting look at the racing. The other evening at Hershey wrote Conlon. When the Midget Auto Races were inaugurated, more than 11, 000 fans turned out. At least a half a dozen times during the evening, the announcer called upon the audience to applaud.

The announcer who begs for applause insults the intelligence of the public just as much, if not more, than the public speaker who says, Do you see what I mean? Many persons who attend auto race for the thrills expect to see But the majority attend because they love the sport and that is their favorite diversion.

Perhaps we’re different. We would have come away from the track the other evening thoroughly enjoyed with the program if it wasn’t for the fact that they were continually reminding us that [00:53:00] it was time to applaud. It was really humorous for a while. Things are not usually done that way in Hershey.

Here’s hoping that those in charge of the midget races fall in line real soon. If you had not become disgusted with the announcer and were willing to endure more, all you had to do was try and get some refreshments during intermission. Picture the greater party of 11, 000 fans trying to get service with only two persons selling tickets and then less than a half dozen attendants endeavoring to serve the huge throng.

Talk about a day at the races. You ain’t seen nothing until you’ve gone through what we did the other night. However, we must admit it was the first race, and many of these conditions are likely to be remedied before long. On a side note, Hershey almost came to an explosive end that first year. They were scheduled to have a large fireworks display with the races.

The races and the fireworks were rained out, so Milton Hershey instructed the workers to store the fireworks under the front straightaway grandstands. During the week, a worker tossed a cigarette and it landed in the fireworks. This created a large explosive scene under the grandstands. Thankfully, the [00:54:00] grandstands were made of concrete and were able to withstand the explosion.

Hewstead Field is a prime example of the growing pains of midget racing. Hewstead Field was a multiple purpose sports facility. The complex included a football field and running track. The midgets were scheduled to race on the running track. The event was a qualifier for a race to be held at Madison Square Garden in New York.

The local newspaper added some pre life excitement to the event. And once again, this is what I said about writers at the time having a flair. The newspaper article read, Life and limb will be endangered Saturday afternoon at Husted Field when the cream of the daredevil drivers will whirl around the fifth mile of the track at speeds faster than a mile a minute.

The midget automobiles to participate have carried several drivers to their deaths and have sent numerous drivers to the hospital. Due to the nature of the local track, accidents seem imminent. A large crowd is certain to turn out for the large races. The cars are not playthings by any means. Doctors and nurses will be on hand in case of emergency.

Lovely way to sum up the, you know, races that are coming. On race day, [00:55:00] a total of eight midgets were at the track. The Husted Brothers, who owned the facility, had other concerns. They suspected a large crowd was not there, so the Husted Brothers began taking into account of the spectators. As the practice session began, the Husted Brothers asked the promoter how much he was paying in insurance.

The promoter replied he had no insurance on the race. They then asked if he had enough money to pay the drivers. The promoter stated that with eight cars, he believed he had enough money to pay the drivers. At the end of practice, the Husted Brothers made the announcement that They were canceling the races and all patrons would receive a refund.

By 1938, midget racing was booming. Eastern Midget Racing Alliance was formed as a way to protect the drivers. The Alliance was there to make sure the drivers received a fair purse. This group quickly ran into opposition. AAA wanted to be part of the East’s midget scene. In March, AAA met with the National Midget Auto Racing Circuit.

AAA took over the circuit’s schedule, and now AAA was firmly in place in the East. To show the strength of AAA, this was their weekly [00:56:00] East midget schedule. Sunday nights, they had racing at Nutley Velodrome and the Coney Island Velodrome. On Monday, they sanctioned races at Cedarhurst and Bridgeport.

Tuesday night, they were at Yellowjacket and the Bronx Castle Hill. Wednesday night, they were back at Nutley and Coney Island. Thursday, they returned to Cedarhurst and West Haven. Friday nights were for Yellowjacket and Bronx Castle Hill. And they finished the week on Saturday at Long Branch. That is 14 races in one week for AAA.

And that was all season long. There is one track on that list that needs mentioning. The Nutley Velodrome. The Nutley Velodrome was a bicycle track located in Nutley, New Jersey. And Herb mentioned about this earlier. Track was a six mile in distance, 45 degree banking in the turns. People thought promoter Jack Kochman was crazy when he suggested racing midgets at the velodrome.

Even Kochman had some doubts when he enlisted drivers Bill Scarnace and Red Redman to take some practice laps. Following that session, Kochman believed midgets could race on the velodrome surface. [00:57:00] Cotchman had an open practice and the first driver on the track, Ernie Gessel, turned a lap in 8. 4 seconds at a speed of 72 miles per hour.

That’s 72 miles per hour on a six mile track. By the second practice session, they had lap times under eight seconds. Racing great Tommy Henderson once talked about racing at Nutley. With the track’s small size and steep banking, Hinnerschitz said you would lose all perspective when on the track. Cars would circle the track so quickly that you would lose track of which straightaway or which turn you were in.

He said you would go up, you would go down, you would go up, go down constantly. You had no idea where you were on the track. Driver Henry Banks supported Hinnerschitz’s claim. Banks, in an interview, said, Driving the steeply banked track was an experience without comparison. Because of the blinding speeds, a driver never knew just where he was on the banks.

The track was doomed from its opening day. Ken Fowler’s crash into the outside railing injured 13 spectators. The local residents were unhappy over the massive traffic jams, and they considered the track a nuisance. A [00:58:00] group of citizens asked for a revocation of the racing permit, but Town Mayor Frederick Young allowed racing to continue.

What was interesting about Nutley opening was the Tri City Speedway opened the same night, and the two tracks were only a few miles apart. Tri City had 41 cars, while Nutley had just over 20. However, Nutley had a sellout crowd, whereas Tri City had a slim turnout. Nutley’s lifespan was just over one year.

On August 8, 1939, Carl Hottel was killed in an accident. He was the third fatality in 60 races at the Velodrome. The town of Nutley had enough, and racing was banned from the Velodrome. In March 1942, the Notley Velodrome was torn down and today it’s a park. With midget racing booming and big car competition continuing, a good problem arose.

There were too many races. Drivers and cars were being stretched thin. Promoters began to complain as the racing schedule filled drastically. The problem became pronounced in the fall when the county fairs were at their height. In central Pennsylvania, there was the Lebanon Fairground with its weekly big [00:59:00] car races.

A half mile north of the fairground was the Pleasant Hill Gun Club Midget Track. Both raced on Sundays. Adding to the confusion, just outside of Lancaster was the Central Speedway and their weekly big car events. Lebanon promoter Mark Light, who is also a noted race car driver, knew this was not going to work.

Light held a meeting with the other promoters and they came up with a solution. Lebanon and Central would alternate weeks with their big car races. Pleasant Hill held midget races on the Sundays when Lebanon was not racing. As the 1930s came to an end, another form of racing was gaining ground in sections of the country.

Jalopy racing was making a hit. The crude racing machines, often stripped down to the frames, could race almost anywhere, often in open fields, on autocross style tracks. This very cheap form of racing became a sudden moneymaker proposition. Fire companies and other local organizations staged jalopy races as fundraisers.

All of this great racing was about to come to an end as the war in Europe was increasing. By 1942, [01:00:00] the government shut down automobile racing in its entirety. Well, almost, because we did find some articles. There was some kind of what we, I guess, could call outlaw racing during the ban that did go on. The tracks became idle until late 1945.

The momentum racing gained in the 1920s and 1930s was lost due to the war effort. And I want to close out with this article that we found at the museum in the bottom of a box. It was from Mr. Ray Sherman, who’s the Associate Chairman of the Contest Board of the American Automobile Association. It’s entitled, The Racing Driver’s Gift to All of Us Who Drive.

This is from May of 1929. It’s a kind of just a very interesting read. This summer, as in many summers past, racing cars will roar over the bricks and the boards and through the dust of the dirt tracks while crowds thrill and cheer. To them, it will be a spectacle of sport staged for their amusement. To most of the drivers, it will be a competition for cash rewards, but to the car owners of the world, it will be more than [01:01:00] that.

Had it not been for the races of the days gone by, the world would be not so far along the path of progress. Our civilization would be a different thing. Our people would have less enjoyment of life than they would have today. America seems to have leaped from the mud of 30 years ago to the concrete of today and all that goes with it.

It did leap, and much of the impetus that made the leap of so long came from the roaring mortals of the tracks and from the sweaty, grimy hands that held to the wheels and from the thick shod feet that pressed hot pedals to the boards. Time was when a tire was a treacherous, uncertain thing. It was a creature of hope or despair.

According to whether it had or had not played the tricks upon its owner. Better tires? Maybe someday. Then the racer went out upon the tracks and burned them up and torn them apart till the fame of the uh, Goodyears and all the rest of them began to dim. And then came better tires that brought back Lester to the old trade [01:02:00] names.

Under hard pounding on the bricks and the rough usage on dangerous turns, steering knuckles, the soul of the driving safety cracked. Each crack brought its penalty to some men. And then engineers went back to laboratories and shops and came forth again with steering knuckles that would not break. And every part of a car went through a grind.

Without much, cars of today would not be what they are. In the great scheme of things, a contribution’s to the welfare of the world. And back of each test, behind each motor, had to be the hands of a man, a racing driver. This summer, 20 million of America’s families will roll over the roads in automobiles.

Fathers, mothers, children will sail at fast speeds on tires that make for safety. Cars with human freight will be pushed up frightful grades and gears and axles will not break. Steep descents, sudden stops, all in safety. A rambling tour through Sylvan Scenes is far removed from the roar and risk of the tracks, but no one could have been [01:03:00] made without the other.

The no man’s land of science has always lured the few, and the many have always reaped the real rewards. Perhaps someday a public place may hold a monument to the real racing driver, the man who brought safety to all who drive. I thank everybody for being here today. Thank you. Thank you.

This episode is brought to you in part by the International Motor Racing Research Center. Its charter is to collect, share, and preserve the history of motorsports, spanning continents, eras, and race series. The center’s collection embodies the speed, drama, and camaraderie of amateur and professional motor racing throughout the world.

The Center welcomes serious researchers and casual fans alike to share stories of race drivers, race series, and race cars captured on their shelves and walls and brought to life through a regular calendar of public lectures and special events. To learn more about the Center, visit www. racingarchives.

org. This episode is also brought to you [01:04:00] by the Society of Automotive Historians. They encourage research into any aspect of automotive history. The SAH actively supports the compilation and preservation of papers. Organizational records, print ephemera and images to safeguard, as well as to broaden and deepen the understanding of motorized wheeled land transportation through the modern age and into the future.

For more information about the SAH, visit www. autohistory. org.

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